Getting To Know You
by IWishIWasAMermaid
Summary: Oliver's a lawyer in LA. Lilly's his new secretary. Getting to know someone can always lead to something more... Loliver. AU story.
1. First Impressions

I rubbed my hand over my face. This was tedious. Should interviews be this tedious? And I thought that businesswomen in Los Angeles were supposed to be intelligent.

The telephone in front of me buzzed, and I leaned forward and pressed it.

"Mr. Oken?" Kathy, my current (but not for long) secretary spoke through the speaker. "Shall I send the last one in?"

I was tempted to say no. So tempted to say no. Tell her that she can't go on maternity leave, because she'd be leaving her job in the hands of incapable people. She can't give up her job to look after her kid, because she'd ruin us.

But that's illegal.

"Yeah," I said, and sat back in my chair, waiting for the next person to come in.

Seriously, when I got home, I was gonna call for a takeout, and sit and watch TV. Relax. I deserved it.

A tentative knock at the door snapped me out of my plans for the evening, and I looked up. In the doorway stood a tall woman, with blonde hair. She looked amazingly beautiful, and I could hardly believe that she was here to get a job in an office.

"Hi," she said, looking unsure of what to do. "I'm Lilly. Lillian Truscott. That's what it'll say on my CV, but everyone just calls me Lilly."

I shook my head, and gestured to the seat in front of me. "Sit down."

Lilly smiled, and walked into the room, slipping into the seat in front of me.

"So, Lilly. What brings you here today?" I asked, trying to focus on the task at hand. Interviewing her.

"Uhh... a job interview?" she said, wrinkling her nose.

I laughed. "Yes. But why this job? It says here that you had a job as a Personal Assistant to a celebrity."

"Oh. Yeah. Well, I just thought that it was time to move on," Lilly smiled, shrugging her shoulders.

"Which celebrity was it?" I asked.

She raised her eyebrows. "Is it relevant?"

I shrugged. "Possibly."

"Hannah Montana," she rolled her eyes. "She was great, but I felt like a change. Plus, that constant on-the-road lifestyle just wasn't for me. Hannah was a great friend, and helped me find all of these interviews."

"So she wasn't a diva?"

Why am I asking all of these questions? None of them will get her the job.

"Not at all," she laughed.

I looked back down at the CV in front of me. "Okay. Well, it says here you got some qualifications at school. Good ones. And you have a reference. Was this written by Ms. Montana herself, or one of her other personal assistants."

"She wrote it herself," Lilly said. "She was totally happy to. Plus, I worked hard for her for three years, so I deserved something."

Three years. How old was she again?

I scanned the sheet in front of me. Twenty-one. Same age as me.

"Three years is a long time," I commented.

"I know. I had to work it. And, like I said, it was time for a change," she smiled.

She looked cute when she smiled.

God. I can't be thinking this! I'm interviewing her! For a job! I cannot be influenced by how hot she might be!

"Anyway. Tell me about you," I said, putting down the bit of paper. I knew it all anyway. There'd been hundreds of people in with similar credentials.

She took a breath. "Well, I was born in Malibu, California. Uh, I grew up there, parents, friends, the whole shebang. When I was eighteen I got a job working with Hannah Montana, which was a stroke of luck. A friend knew she was looking for a PA, and I got an interview. No idea how. Lucky Lilly; that's me. I moved up to LA, and while I was working for Hannah, I did a university course in secretarial and social skills. And then three years later, I decided that I needed a break, and here we are."

Well, she seems to have more brains than the rest of them put together. She'd managed to string a sentence together without using the words 'like' or 'totally' all the time.

"Okay. Well, do you have any questions?" I asked, sure that she had the job. It was my call anyway. And I said that she had the job.

She wrinkled her nose. "Questions about what?"

"The job," I stated simply.

Her face went from confusion, to disbelief, to happiness in the space of a second. "You mean you're actually giving me it?"

"Do I have any reason not to?" I asked.

She shook her head. "No. No, I just thought... your secretary said that there'd been a load of people in, and I assumed that there'd be call back interviews... no?"

"I didn't see a single person today that could be as good at the job as you would be," I said, simply. I didn't. And the fact that she's totally cute has nothing to do with it whatsoever.

Lilly grinned. "Seriously? Well, okay then. When do I start?"

"Kathy leaves in a week, so if you come in on Monday? That's her last day, and it can be your first," I said.

"Okay. Great. Well, I'll see you then, then," she said, standing up. "Jesus, that was way too easy."

I smiled at her, standing up too. "Well, if you hadn't come in, I'd be tearing my hair out. The others were awful. You're like a blessing in disguise."

"Never heard that one before," she said, biting her lip. "But I guess it's a compliment, so that's awesome. Thank you."

I shrugged. "No problem."

She smiled as she walked out of the room, and I sat back down, running my hands through my hair. Thank God. Seriously. The shortest interview I'd had all day, and it was the best. But she was perfect. Fresh, new, interesting, intelligent...

And it helped that she was totally hot.

But obviously I wouldn't be able to go out with her. Relationships and working together doesn't work. Never has, never will.

Oh well.

**New story. It probably sucks, but I wanted to do an AU one. Miley is still Hannah Montana, but Oliver doesn't know this. Lilly does. That's how she got the job, as you'll find in the next chapter. **

**Next chapter will be Lilly's POV.**


	2. Chopsticks

**I'm sorry I didn't make things clear in the last chapter. Lilly and Oliver have never met each other. Lilly grew up in Malibu, and Oliver grew up elsewhere. I'm still deciding where he grew up. The interview was the first time they met, and it's going to go from there. Sorry for the confusion...**

I cannot believe that it was that easy. I was totally prepared to be turned down, and sent away. Instead, I was in and had a job in five minutes.

My cell phone rang, and I fumbled in my pocket for it as I left the elevator and began walking out of the office building. Glancing briefly at the Caller ID, I flipped it open. "Hey Miles!"

"Lilly! How'd it go?" she shrieked. "I mean, I bet it went well, because they'd be stupid not to hire you."

I smiled. "I got it! He didn't even want a call back or anything!"

"Tell me everything!" she said. "And he? Was he cute?"

I blushed as I realised that he was.

"So that's a yes then," Miley said, hearing my silence. "What happened?"

"Well, I walked in there, and he looked really stressed out. Like, mega-ly. I think it was because the person before me had been awful or something. But I went in, and introduced myself. We talked about being an assistant to Hannah - he seemed interested about that - and he told me to tell him about myself. So I did, neglecting to mention that my best friend was Hannah Montana living a lie, but I told him about Malibu, and school and stuff. Then he asked if I had any questions about the job, and voila! I'm here. A new employee of Weller and Dean law."

Miley laughed. "We are so celebrating when you get home. I've called Jake, and he's coming over. Is that okay?"

"As long as you don't sit on the couch, making out. It's enough to make me throw up," I joked, dodging people on the street.

"Deal. Chinese for dinner?" she said. "I fancy takeout."

Me and Miley had been sharing a flat since we both left school. It was like a sleepover every night, and we'd been doing it for three years already.

"Sure," I said, and hailed a taxi. "I'm getting in a cab now, 'kay?"

"Right. See you soon," Miley said, and I flipped the phone shut.

I opened the cab door, and slid in, pushing my phone back in my pocket. "East Street please."

"Sure thing," the driver said, and pulled out into the traffic.

I actually got the job. And I start on Monday. How amazing is that?

Plus, the guy I'm working for isn't bad on the eyes. Mr. Oken. He never said his first name.

Not that anything could ever happen. Can you imagine going out with your boss? And then breaking up with him? Awkward much?

But admire? That, I could definitely do.

---

"To Lilly!" Miley raised her glass of soda, and grinned. "And her amazing new job!"

I grinned, and joined her, clinking my glass with hers. "Her amazingly paid new job."

"Her amazing amazingly paid new job," Miley laughed.

"Can we stop with the word games?" Jake asked, pulling one of the boxes of food toward him. "Her job is amazing. We get it."

I laughed, and pulled a box toward me, opening it up, and grabbing the chopsticks off of the table in front of me. I've known how to use chopsticks my whole life. "Miley, these aren't the ones you had in your hair the other day, are they?"

"No," Miley shakes her head, opening her own Chinese box. "I think Jake has those ones."

"What?" Jake asks, pulling the chopsticks out of his mouth.

Miley laughed. "I'm joking. The ones that were in my hair are in my bedroom. They looked pretty cool actually. I might wear them to one of my Hannah gigs."

"You'd have to go Oriental. Otherwise they might look out of place," I said, swallowing the mouthful of food.

Miley nodded. "But Oriental is very in this year! Chinese style dresses. Bright colours. All that jazz."

Jake rolled his eyes. "Stop talking about clothes."

"Sorry," Miley apologised. "Anyway Lilly. Tell me all about this new employer of yours. You said he was cute."

I raised my eyebrows. "Actually, I didn't. You assumed that I thought that."

"But you did, didn't you?" she said, looking at me with a grilling expression on her face.

I blushed slightly, and nodded. "He was. But I can't dwell on that thought. Because if he's my boss, I don't want to be romantically involved. That never works out."

"That's as dumb as a mule in a bowtie!" Miley said. "Of course it does. If he's amazing, and you really like him..."

I rolled my eyes. "I just met the guy. We were in a room, for five minutes. And yeah, he was hot. But you can think that about anyone. I could pass a random guy in the street, and think he's cute, but that doesn't mean I'm going to do anything about it."

"She's right," Jake said.

Thank you for the backup Jake.

"I guess... but you're going to get the chance to know him, right?" Miley sighed. "Would you give him a chance?"

I shrugged. "How am I supposed to know? Maybe, yeah."

Miley smiled, and the conversation trailed off. "Well, I hope everything goes awesomely. And you're still coming to the Hannah concert tomorrow, aren't you?"

"Totally. I might not be Hannah's assistant anymore, but I'm still going along for the free concert," I grinned.

"Jake's coming too. Hey, maybe when you and this guy get together, he can come along! Did he say he liked Hannah Montana?" Miley asked, finishing her food, and putting the box down on the table. We'd always been fast eaters.

I rolled my eyes, and got up to dump my box in the bin. "He might do. But don't bet on us getting together. This job looks promising, and I'm not going to have it go stale on me because I split up with the boss."

"If he's a good guy, it might never come to that," she states.

Seriously. She gets way too ahead of herself sometimes.

I don't even know this guy's first name! How can I even consider a relationship yet?

I can't. And so I won't.


	3. Burnt Tongues

She's there when I get to work on Monday. I'd planned on being early, but obviously things don't always go to plan.

The weird thing about it? I was actually looking forward to work today. And okay, my work isn't bad, and I get paid quite a lot, but I never actually look forward to it. I haven't since I started working here, and the novelty wore off.

"Hi," she smiled, as I got out of the elevator. She was sitting behind a desk, writing something on a bit of paper.

I'd forgotten how hot she was.

God! Oliver, stop thinking like that!

"Hey," I grinned. "How long have you been here?"

She shrugged. "About an hour. I got here early, but apparently it wasn't that early. There were loads of people here. What do they do, sleep in the office?"

"Actually, they're robots." I leaned forward, as if I were telling her a secret. "They shut themselves down at night, and start themselves up in the morning. They're the perfect workers."

She smiled. "You don't have to pay them or anything."

"A definite upside," I nodded.

Lilly tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. "Okay. Well, Kathy briefed me. Let me try and remember. Um... I come in at eight. Check e-mail, messages, yada yada yada. Then I phone people back, e-mail people back, whatever. Then I do filing, briefing, answer phones... it all sounds so exciting."

I can't quite tell whether she's being serious or sarcastic. "Was that sarcastic?"

She laughed and shook her head. "No. Well... sort of. But not completely. Maybe?"

"Right. Well, when you've decided, let me know," I smiled, and began to walk away into my office. "If anyone calls, put them through."

She nodded. "Uh-huh. Will do."

I walked into the office, and sat down in my seat. She'd managed to remember that list of jobs amazingly well.

I definitely made the right decision. The other people I interviewed wouldn't be able to remember the first thing on that list. Heck, I couldn't remember what the first thing on that list was.

Turning on the computer, I sighed. Another long day. But, I thought, as I looked through the glass door, catching a glimpse of Lilly talking to someone on the phone, maybe it wouldn't be too bad...

---

"I told you, the third contract was totally invalid. Nothing can be done at all about it. They'll just have to give over the money," I said into the phone, talking to a very agitated lawyer, who was trying to get a company off a major charge.

It wasn't going to happen.

A knock at the door interrupted the conversation. "Hold on a second," I said, into the reciever. "Come in!"

The door was pushed open, and Lilly was standing there, some paper in her hands. "Is now a bad time? I can come back in a minute..."

I held up my hand, telling her to wait for a second, and turned my attention back to the annoyed lawyer. "Look, you can look for a loophole over and over, but you aren't going to find one. I'm giving you the advice, and you can now choose whether to take it."

He hangs up, disgruntled, and I put the phone down, turning to Lilly, who is still standing in the doorway. "Sorry. Annoyed lawyer."

She smiled, and walked into the room, sitting down on the chair opposite. "I could tell. I just wasn't sure which one of you was the annoyed one. Anyway, um, messages. I wrote them all down, and I'm sorry if you can't read them, but I'm still getting used to writing quickly."

"What, you didn't have to write quickly for Hannah Montana?" I asked, taking the papers off of her.

Lilly rolled her eyes. "I didn't have to write for Hannah at all. She was perfectly capable of writing herself. I just organised stuff. And got her water."

"You got her water?" I raised my eyebrows.

"Yes. As it happens, singing on stage makes you thirsty," Lilly said, a smile on her face. "Not that either of us would know."

I looked down at the papers. They were legible. Just.

"So, is there anything you need me to do?" she asked, looking at me. "Anything at all. You name it, I'll do it. Well... when I say anything at all, I mean anything within reason."

I shrugged, not really needing anything. "I don't think I need anything..."

Lilly raised her eyebrows. "Well you're really low-maintenance, aren't you? Hey, actually, I'm gonna go down to Starbucks anyway, because I need a sugar fix, so you want anything there?"

"You'd actually go and buy something for me from Starbucks?"

She wrinkled her nose, like it was the most natural thing in the world. "Well, why not? I mean I'm going there anyway. And I was gonna ask around to see if anyone else wanted anything. One more drink won't hurt."

"Okay. Uhh... I'll have a coffee, thanks," I said, as she stood up and straightened her black trousers.

"Sure," she nodded. "I'll be back with that in like, fifteen minutes. Maybe half an hour. Forty-five minutes tops."

I smiled. "Go, before it becomes an hour."

"If it took me an hour, the drinks would be cold when I got back. It wouldn't even be worth it," Lilly smiled, as she walked out of the door. "See you later!"

I watched as she walked out of the room, closing the door behind her. Shaking my head, I looked down at the paper she had written the messages on. Many of them were marked 'urgent'. I sighed, and picked up the phone. Work beckoned. And it sucked.

---

"Okay!" Lilly walked right into the room, balancing four drinks in her hand, plus a few dozen cookies. "Sorry to just barge in, but these are hot, and have been burning my fingers for the entire walk here." She placed the cups on the desk in front of me, and let go, lifting her fingers up to her face and blowing on them. "Jesus, they're hot. Sorry. That one's yours. And I got you a cookie, because they were on special offer, and I can't resist special offers."

I laughed. "I'm not complaining."

"Good. You might want to watch out for that coffee," she warned. "It's hot."

"Thanks for the warning," I said, pulling it toward me. It was hot. "Ouch."

She looked at me, amused. "I told you. Well anyway, enjoy Mr. Oken."

Mr. Oken? Oh. I didn't tell her what to call me, did I?

"Lilly?"

She turned around, and looked at me. "Yeah?"

"You can call me Oliver. Everyone else does," I said, smiling at her.

She grins. "Okay. Enjoy your coffee, Oliver. Just let it cool down first. Otherwise you'll burn your tongue."

When she walks out of the room, I sit back in my chair, and pick up the cup of coffee. Burn my tongue? Yeah. Right.

I take a drink, and swallow almost instantly.

Yeah. She was right. I burnt my tongue.

**There'll be a pattern. Unless stated otherwise, each chapter will alternate from Oliver's POV, and Lilly's POV. 'Kay?**


	4. Barefoot

My shoes are killing me. Tell me, why did Miley say that I should wear these shoes? Exactly what impression do they make? I can hardly walk in them, for Christ's sake. And yes, they look fabulous, but I'm a secretary. My feet stay behind a desk for the majority of the day!

I kicked them off, and turned back to the computer, clicking the mouse button a few times. Usually I was busy, but not now.

I sighed, and put my elbow on the desk, leaning my head on it. We're going to a Hannah concert tonight. When I say we, I mean me, Jake, Miley. Well, duh, Miley has to be there. Otherwise Hannah won't be. And then it wouldn't be a Hannah concert, would it?

"Didn't anyone tell you not to put your elbows on the table?" A voice snapped me out of my thoughts, and I looked up to find Mr. Oke... Oliver looking down at me.

"No. They told me not to put my elbows on a dinner table," I replied. "Said nothing about a desk."

He smiled. "Ah. Well that would make sense. A loophole."

"Exactly," I nodded.

"You should be a lawyer. We're paid to find loopholes," he said, still looking down at me.

I've been working here for two weeks, and can't imagine a nicer boss. Seriously. He's really nice; makes conversation, instead of just barking orders at you. Hannah Montana was a great boss, but she was also my best friend, so that doesn't count. This guy is just my boss. He doesn't have to be nice to me. Yet he is.

"Can I help you?" I smiled at him. "Please say yes, because I seriously need something to do. I've even archived your files."

Mr. Oke... Oliver, looked down at me in surprise. "You've done what now?"

"I went through your filing cabinets, and sorted them alphabetically and by year," I said. "And now I have nothing else to do, so please, say that I can do something."

He raised his eyebrows, obviously shocked that I'd done something as weird as organising files. It was pretty weird... "Actually, I need you to research a few things."

"Done!" I sat back in my seat. "Done. What do you need me to research?"

"You're eager," Mr. Oken - ugh! Oliver. Oliver, Oliver, Oliver - grinned at me.

I am. And it's really stupid, because it's just downright weird to be eager about doing work, but I'm really bored. So whatever. "Better than being ignorant and depressing, right?"

"Definitely," he nodded, and stared at me for a few seconds.

Okay. So I'm awful for admitting it, but he's cute. Seriously, he is. And he's nice. If he weren't my boss, then I would consider going out with him. But he's my boss, and there is no way on earth that he'd ask someone like me out, so I'm shrugging it off.

"Yeah. Um, everything I need you to look up is on this sheet," he said, shaking his head, and handing me a sheet of paper with some scrawled words on it. "If you can bring it through to me when you're done? No need to knock."

I nodded. "Sure thing."

Oliver - hey! I remembered! - smiled at me once more, and went back into his office. I looked down at the bit of paper, and then opened Google on the computer.

I typed in the first word, and pressed 'search'. Finally, something to do.

---

"I researched those things for you." I walked into Mr. Oken's - damn it. Oliver's - office. He was on the phone, and smiled at me, motioning for me to sit down.

I did.

"Yeah. Sure. Okay. Look man, I'm not bringing any alcohol. None of you need any more. What sort of example are you setting?"

I raised my eyebrows at the conversation. I know it's a private call, and that I shouldn't be listening, but it's kind of hard not to, when you're sitting right opposite one of the participants.

"It's not happening. But anyway. I have to go. Yes. Unlike you, I'm busy. Sure. Okay. Bye." Oliver hung up, and put the phone down. "Sorry. My brother."

"Your alcoholic brother, by the sounds of it," I said before I thought.

Jeez! You don't say that to people, Lilly! You don't say it to anyone, let alone your boss, who COULD FIRE YOU!

Luckily, he laughed. "Yeah. I don't know what sort of example he's setting to his son, but I'm not the parent."

"He's not really an alcoholic, is he?" I asked, suddenly worried about this kid.

Oliver shook his head, an amused expression on his face. "No. He's having a party on Friday, and asked me to bring alcohol. I told him it's not happening, considering he's asked every guest to do that. It's like he wants everybody drunk."

"Oh," I said. "Well that's good. Not the 'getting everyone drunk part'... the fact that he's not an alcoholic..."

He looked at me, as if I was some rambling idiot. He wouldn't have been wrong.

"Um... sorry. I have that research," I said, handing him some printed pages. "I printed it out, because my handwriting still sucks."

"Thoughtful," he smiled, taking the paper from me. "Thanks."

I smiled. "It was seriously no problem. I was so bored. Not that this job is boring or anything... I just... it's just... I'm just gonna stop talking now."

"Somehow, I just don't believe that," Oliver teased.

I raised my eyebrows. "Oh really?"

"See?" he grinned. "You just spoke."

It was like we'd known each other for so much longer than two weeks. It was like he wasn't my boss, but one of my friends, that I'd known for ages.

I rolled my eyes. "Whatever."

"You know that I'm right." Oliver folded his arms, and sat back in his seat.

"You? Right? Sure," I replied, only slightly sarcastically. He was a lawyer. He had to be right. If he was always wrong, his career choice was a weird one.

He sensed this, and laughed. "I'm paid to be right."

"You're paid to be right, and paid to find loopholes. Anything else you're paid for?" I asked, biting my lip.

"Making boring phone calls," he admitted.

I nodded. "Because it must be so boring having to take calls from your brother, as you plan your huge party on Friday night."

"Hey. It's his party. Not mine," Oliver said, in a warning tone.

I shrugged. "Same difference."

"You wouldn't be saying that if you met my brother."

"Right. So you're total opposites?" I asked, smiling innocently.

He nodded. "Exactly."

"Okay. So if he's not an alcoholic, what does that make you?" I said, a total innocent look on my face.

Oliver stared at me. "Not total opposites."

I laughed, and looked at him. He looked so un-amused, that I had to stuff my tongue in my cheek to stop myself from laughing. "Sorry... couldn't resist. You're not an alcoholic then? No? Okay..."

He couldn't stay serious for long, and laughed at the innocent look on my face. "No. I'm not. Are you?"

"Not at all," I shook my head. "Miley would totally flip out, and then throw me out of the house."

"Miley?" he queried.

Oh yeah... he doesn't know who Miley is... duh.

"My roommate," I explained. "She's a little crazy. But we've known each other for ages. We're practically sisters, except not."

He nodded, and opened his mouth to ask a question, but the phone interrupted him. We looked at it, wanting it to stop ringing.

Well, I wanted it to stop ringing. I don't know what he was looking at it for.

"I'd better answer this," he said, when it became evident that the phone was not going to stop ringing.

I nodded, and stood up. "Happy... answering phones."

As I walked to the door, Oliver called me. "Lilly?"

"Yeah?" I asked, turning around.

"Why are you walking around barefoot?" he asked, an amused expression on his face, the phone pressed to his shoulder.

I looked down at my feet. Damn it. I forgot to put my shoes back on. I looked up, blushing slightly. "You know what? That is a very good question. I'll just be... going now."

He watched as I left the room, a smirk on his face. I closed the door behind me, and ducked behind my desk, slipping my shoes back on.

Never wear these shoes again. Especially not to work.


	5. In The Rain

It's raining. Heavily.

"So I was thinking that we have a mix of CDs available. Strokes, White Stripes, Foo Fighters..." Jack rambled from the seat next to me.

He'd come to the office about fifteen minutes after Lilly left, and asked for a ride home.

Wait. Did I just measure time by when Lilly came and left work?

Yes. Yes I did.

"Dude, are you listening to me?" Jack asked, stopping his ramblings for a while.

I nodded. "Yeah. You were talking about music..."

"No, I wasn't. I'd just moved onto food," he said, looking at me like I was the weird one. I'm sorry, but he is the one talking non-stop about a party that is still two days away. Plus, his wife is making food. He's told me this five times. Must I hear it again?

"What is wrong with you today?" he asked.

Charming.

"I mean, I turn up, and you look less than pleased to see me. Now you're spacing out. Are you okay?" Jack said, as if he were actually concerned about me.

I nodded, and turned the steering wheel right. "I'm fine."

"I know what it is!" Jack exclaimed suddenly, and I glanced at him. Oh yeah. He's definitely the weird one. "You like someone!"

Like someone? This is his theory?

"What?" I asked, shaking the image of Lilly that had weirdly popped into my head when he'd said that.

He nodded enthusiastically. "Yeah! That's it! You like this girl, and now you can't concentrate on anything else. I'm right, aren't I?"

"No," I stated, shaking my head. "You're not."

Someone is walking on the sidewalk up ahead. They must be getting soaked.

"Oh, but I think I am," Jack grinned. "So, who is she?"

I rolled my eyes, looking at the person up ahead. There was something oddly familiar about that outfit... like I'd seen someone wearing that recently. Obviously it looked slightly different, considering it was soaking. Who was it?

"C'mon dude, I can see it in your eyes," Jack said, still talking.

"Considering I'm not even looking at you, I don't exactly know how you can see that," I said, as the figure ahead got bigger.

I know her. Who is it?

"I just know these things..." Jack smiled.

It's Lilly! She's walking home, in the rain. I pressed the button to put down my window, and Jack looked at me like I was insane.

"Lilly!" I called out of the window, and she turned around. "You're soaked."

Realising that it wasn't a stranger, she walked over to the window. "I know. It's raining. I'd be sort of surprised if I wasn't wet..."

"Do you want a ride home?" I asked. Why was she walking home?

She shook her head. "No, I love the rain. But, thanks for the offer."

"You sure?" I said, and she nodded.

"Positive. You keep going," she smiled.

Reluctantly I pulled away, and watched in the rear view mirror as she kept walking. Why am I driving away?

"Jack?" I turned to my brother and said.

"Yeah?" he asked, obviously still curious to who Lilly was.

I looked behind us again, and then back at him. "Take the car. Drive home." I pulled back into the sidewalk, and put my hand on the handle.

"Oliver, you're going to get soaking," Jack said, looking at me horrified.

"I know. But I can't let her walk on her own, can I?"

It was a friendly gesture. That was all. It was dark, and the rain was loud, so she'd never know if someone was coming up behind her. I'm looking out for a friend. That's all.

Jack raised his eyebrows. "That's her, isn't it?"

"That's who?" I faked ignorance.

He shook his head. "Never mind. Get a cab to our house, and you can pick up your car, okay?"

"Sure," I said, opening the door and getting out. Then I slammed it, and watched as Jack climbed over into the drivers seat, and drove away.

"What are you doing?" A cry from behind me made me turn around. Lilly was standing there, her head tilted to the right, her eyebrows raised.

"Thought I'd give you some company," I shrugged, and began walking in the direction that she had been.

She caught up, and hit my arm lightly. "Are you crazy? You'll get soaked!"

"Already am," I said. "Plus, maybe I like the rain."

Lilly paused, and rolled her eyes. "I can't believe you. You're going to get pneumonia," she said, walking along beside me. "You shouldn't have gotten out of the car."

I turned to her. "Sorry Mom."

"If I were your mom, I would've taught you not to get out the car to walk with strange girls in the rain," she said, raising her eyebrows.

"You're hardly strange," I corrected.

Lilly raised her eyebrows. "So you think. For all you know, I could have wanted you to get of the car, so that I could murder you."

"Somehow, I find that hard to believe," I smiled.

Lilly sighed with relief. "Good. It's awesome to know that I don't give off those 'I'm an axe-murderer' vibes."

"Does anyone give of those sort of vibes?" I asked.

"Are you honestly telling me, that if you were alone with Marilyn Manson in an alleyway, you would walk at a normal pace?" Lilly said, putting her hands on her hips. I think she had a 'yeah-right' look on her face too, but it was hard to tell through the rain.

I laughed. "He does look sort of scary."

"You're telling me," Lilly muttered. "He's even more scary in person."

I turned to her. "You've met Marilyn Manson?"

She seemed to realise what she'd said, and looked worried for half a second. "Yeah. Hannah Montana's assistant, remember?"

I dismissed it. She didn't look worried. It was the rain, blurring my vision. "Ah, yes. So you're friends with all the celebrities then?"

"You could say that," she shrugged, a secretive smile on her face. "And we're about a block away from my flat. Y'see, it wasn't even worth getting out of the car!"

"Hey, you never know what could happen between where I started walking, and here," I defended. "So really, you should be thanking me."

She rolled her eyes, and suddenly grabbed onto my arm, running up the street, pulling me with her.

"I'm perfectly capable of running on my own, I'll have you know," I yelled, as she kept running, almost pulling my arm off as she did so.

Lilly laughed loudly, as she rounded the corner, and let go of my arm. "You'd better keep up!"

We reached her building, and ducked under the doorway. "Well, you're home now... so I can go and get a cab."

She looked at the floor, and then back up at me. "Sure. Thanks, for keeping me company. Even if it wasn't necessary."

"It's no problem," I smiled, and turned to look at the rain. It suddenly looked grey and horrible. Why didn't it look grey and horrible when I was running in it with Lilly? "I'll see you at work tomorrow?"

"If you don't have a huge cold," she replied.

I grinned, and stepped out of the shelter of the doorway, looking both ways trying to work out which way would be the best way to go.

"Oliver?" I heard her call, and I turned back to her.

"Yeah?"

She sighed, pointed behind her. "Want to come in? At least until the rain has died down. We have food."

"Would that be okay?" I asked, to make sure.

She laughed, and nodded. "I wouldn't have offered otherwise. I mean, it's not like you're an axe-murderer, is it?"

"I don't know," I shrugged. "Do I give off the 'I'm an axe-murderer' vibes?"

Lilly shook her head. "Definitely not."

"Um... okay then. As long as that's okay."

"Of course it is," she said, and pushed open the door. "Miley'll be home by now anyway, and I wouldn't be surprised if she has Jake round."

I stopped. "Do I want to go up there then?"

"You have to," she pleaded. "I don't know if I can stand them anymore. I mean, it was cute at first. Now it's just annoying. Please?"

---

"Are you sure this is okay?" I asked, for the fiftieth time, as we stepped out of the elevator.

Lilly laughed, and rolled her eyes. "Yes. It's fine. You walked me home in the rain. The least that I can do, is invite you in for coffee. I can't let you walk to your house in the rain."

"I was going to get a cab actually," I corrected.

She raised her eyebrows. "You'd still have to walk to find a cab. Either way, you're going to get wet."

"I can't believe you were walking home," I said.

"I misinterpreted the weather," she admitted, walking up the corridor. "I thought that I'd make it home in time."

I followed her. Well I didn't know which flat was hers, did I? So I could hardly lead the way. "Yet you didn't?"

"Obviously," she smiled, gesturing at herself. She was soaked. Then again, so was I. "And do you know how long it took me to get my hair right? Now I need to re-do it."

We reached her door, and stood outside. "I think it looks okay."

"Well you would," she smiled, biting her lip. "You're a guy. You don't care about your hair."

I pretended to look offended. "I'll have you know, that my hair takes a very long time in the morning."

She laughed, her blue eyes creasing at the sides. "I'm sure it does."

"Not as long as yours though," I said, reaching out subconsciously to tuck a few strands of hair behind her ear.

Neither of us blinked.

"Lilly!" the door in front of us opened. "Oh."

I pulled my hand back, and Lilly turned to the brunette in the doorway.

"Miley, this is Oliver. My boss. I invited him back here for a drink... is that okay?"

Miley nodded. "Why wouldn't it be? Hey Oliver, I'm Miley. I've heard a lot about you."

She has?

Lilly is looking at Miley, a shocked look on her face. She sees me looking at her, and the expression is wiped off. "You can go in you know. I'm just gonna go change... because I'm soaking."

"The living room is that way. Jake's in there," Miley pointed. "I'll go and see if there's any of Jake's clothes that you could borrow. He leaves them here."

Lilly rolled her eyes, and smiled at me. "Make yourself at home. I'll be through in a minute..."

She walks in the opposite direction to the living room, Miley following behind her. I watched after them for a second, and then went in the direction that Miley had pointed.

Jake Ryan - yes, the actor - was sat on the couch, and looked up when I walked in. "Hey."

I nodded, sitting on the opposite couch awkwardly. "Hi."

**You'll get another update tonight. I hope. Because I love this scenario, so I want to write all my ideas out. And I have some awesome other ideas for this, so keep reading!**


	6. Flirting? No Way

I walked into my bedroom, Miley right behind me.

"What the hell was that?" she hissed, as if she were worried that Oliver was standing outside the door.

I turned to look at her. "What the hell was what?"

"You. And him. Standing outside," Miley said, folding her arms. My face obviously mirrored my clueless-ness, and she sighed with frustration. "You know, if I hadn't opened the door, it looked like you guys wouldn't just be employer and employee."

I rolled my eyes. "Miley, it wasn't like that. He walked me home."

"And you're telling me that you don't have feelings for him?" she raised her eyebrows.

"Miley, I was walking home. Okay? In the rain, and he was driving past, and stopped, and offered me a lift. I said no, and so he got out, and walked with me. He just wanted to make sure I got home okay. It wasn't anything like you think it is," I defended myself, and found some dry clothes.

She groaned and sat on my bed. "Lilly, he obviously likes you a little more than he's letting on. I mean, there was some major eye contact going on out there."

"It's what you do when you're talking to someone Miley. It's called being polite," I said, pulling the purple tank top over my head.

"It's also called being flirty," she snapped.

I turned to her, my mouth open, trying to think of a witty comeback. Nothing came. I let out a small scream of annoyance. How could she think that Oliver liked me? He doesn't. He's my boss, and the relationship between us is purely work related. Nothing else. "It is not. I'm not flirting with him, okay?"

"Fine," Miley said, after a few seconds of silence. "I'm going to get some clothes for him. Why did he walk with you when it was raining?"

I shrugged. "I told him not to, but he wouldn't listen."

For a minute it looked like she was about to say something, but she turned away. I was half-tempted to tell her to say it, but I'm not sure I wanted to know anyway. I pulled some old jeans on, and walked of my bedroom, pulling my wet hair off my face and into messy bunches.

I walked into the kitchen, and put the coffee machine on. I'd never quite gotten the hang of working the thing, but practice makes perfect, right?

Then I walked through to the living room, laughing at the scene in front of me. The Playstation was on, and Oliver and Jake were racing cars around a virtual track.

"I'm taking you down dude," Jake said, twisting his arm, pressing a button a few dozen times.

I walked over, and sat next to Oliver, watching the cars spin. Oliver was losing... but barely. He just needed to press X and O in quick succession. "You need to press those two quickly."

"What?" Oliver asked, glancing at me for a second.

I leaned across, and pressed the buttons quickly, putting him ahead of Jake. "You need to do that every so often. Just to keep the edge."

"Lilly! What are you telling him?" Jake asked, from the other side of the room. "And why are you on his side?"

"Because he's her boss," Miley laughed, as she walked into the room, a pile of clothes in her hands. "And she wants a job to go back to."

Jake looked over at me. "Well fine, but Miley's on my team."

I laughed. Miley was my best friend, but she sucked at video games. "No offence, but you might as well be on your own team."

"Gee Lilly, thank you for your support," Miley said sarcastically. She knew that I was only joking... sort of. "Oliver, can I get you a coffee?"

Oliver looked up and nodded. "Yeah, thanks."

"Lilly, can I see you in the kitchen for a minute?" she smiled at Oliver sweetly, and then looked down at me.

I nodded, and got up. "Keep pressing X and O."

"You're sitting next to him!" Miley hissed as I walked into the kitchen. "Why are you sitting next to him?"

I wrinkled my nose as I opened a cupboard, pulling out some chocolate. "Because I figured that you'd want to sit next to Jake. And there is no reason why friends can't sit next to each other. What are you, paranoid much?"

"Ugh," Miley groaned, as she made the coffee. I don't even know how she was doing it. I've always sucked at making coffee. Or tea. Or anything for that matter. "Are you telling me that you don't like him? At all?"

I hesitated. Did I? I mean, he was cute. And funny. But he was my boss! And it just wouldn't work out. At all.

"That hesitation told me everything that I need to know," Miley said, turning to look at me, a smirk on her face.

I turned around. "Okay. Maybe I did. At first. But Miley, nothing can ever happen, so I may as well not dwell on it."

"Why can't anything happen Lilly?" Miley asked me, pouring the liquid into a cup. "What if you guys are meant to be, and you're going to let him slip through the cracks, because he's your boss?"

"If we're meant to be, then something will happen," I said with a sigh. "Fate will enter into the equation."

Miley sighed. "You can't always trust fate to intervene Lilly. You need to take your future into your own hands, and I say that if you like him, go for it."

"I can't have this conversation with you Miley," I said, turning and picking up the packet of chocolate bars.

"What? Lilly, he's totally cute, and nice, and he looks at you like you're amazing! I don't understand what is holding you - " Miley hissed, but was cut off by the kitchen door opening. I turned back to the counter quickly.

Oliver stuck his head in. "Where's your bathroom? I'm going to go and get changed..."

"It's just down the hall," Miley said. "First door on the right."

He closed the door, and I sighed. "Miley, I'm not going out with him. Okay? We're friends, and that's all that we ever will be. I'm okay with that, he's okay with that, are you?"

Miley sighed and folded her arms. "Fine."

"Fine what?" I asked, raising my eyebrows.

"I'm okay with it," Miley said monotonously.

She wasn't. But whatever.

"Good," I stated, and took the coffee off of the counter, and through to the living room.

Oliver walked back in minutes later, his hair wet, but in Jake's dry clothes. I motioned to the coffee that was on the table. He smiled, and picked it up.

Miley entered the room, and sat next to Jake. "So Oliver, why'd you hire Lilly?"

I looked across at Miley, sending her a glare. She can't ask that! Why would she ask that? What does she get out of that?

"She was amazingly smarter than the other people I'd interviewed," Oliver shrugged.

"Miley, didn't you have to ring Hannah Montana at eight?" I said through gritted teeth.

She looked at me as though I was thick for a minute, and then realised that I was trying to get her to stop talking. "Oh. Right. Yeah."

"I should be going anyway," Oliver stood up. "The rain has almost stopped anyway."

I looked out of the window and realised that he was right. "Yeah. You need to pick up your car right? From your brother's house? That was your brother in the car, wasn't it?"

"Yeah," he nodded. "How could you tell?"

I laughed. "Family resemblance. Plus he looked like an alcoholic."

Oliver laughed, while Miley and Jake looked slightly alarmed.

"He's not really an alcoholic," I told them, as Oliver walked toward the front door. "I'll see you out."

I heard a small "ooh" from Jake, and reminded myself to hit him when Oliver had gone.

"Thanks," Oliver said, as I pulled open the door.

"For what?" I asked, wrinkling my nose.

He shrugged. "For letting me come in."

"It's not like you were a threat," I smiled. "But it's no problem anyway. It's good seeing someone besides me beat Jake at video games."

"Well, I'm glad I could help," he smiled. "I'll see you tomorrow?"

I nodded. "Totally. See you then."

Oliver grinned at me, and then walked down the corridor. He shoved his hands in his pockets, and made his way to the elevator.

I leant against the door frame, watching him. Then I stepped back, getting ready to close the door.

"Lilly?" he asked, and I stepped forward.

"Uh-huh?"

Oliver walked slowly back up to me. "Would you...?"

Would I what? What would I? I would what? Were there any other possible combinations of those words I could make?

"No. Sorry... just forget it," he said, and turned back around.

I folded my arms. "You can't just start a sentence, and then not finish it."

Oliver turned back around. "I think I just did."

"Well, you shouldn't," I said, walking out into the corridor. "Here, I'll help you. Lilly, would you...?"

He stuck his hands deeper in his pockets, and looked at the floor. "Okay, well there's this big business trip coming up, and I wondered if you'd be free to come along. I need some sanity among all these insane lawyers and PAs."

"Sanity? Are you sure you're asking the right person?" I smiled. "When is it?"

Oliver looked up. "Not this weekend, the next."

Damn it. We were supposed to go and see Hannah Montana. But it's work. So technically, I can't get out of it. And I've seen Hannah before. Numerous times.

"Sure," I agreed. "Why not? Should be fun."

Oliver nodded, and looked as though he were about to say something else. He didn't. "I'll see you tomorrow then."

"Yep," I said, and smiled as he held up a hand in a wave gesture, and then walked back over to the elevator, pressing the button. When the doors had closed, ready to take him back down to the ground floor, I turned around, and walked back into the flat. I slowly closed the door behind me, and then leant my head against it. Then I sighed, and walked back to the living room.

"Has he gone?" Miley looked up at me, a knowing grin on her face.

I rolled my eyes. "No. I locked him in the cupboard, so that when you guys have gone to bed, I can let him out, and we can do stuff in my bedroom."

"I can't believe you just said that," Miley said, as I collapsed onto the couch.

"I can't believe that you think that I'm in love with him," I replied.

Miley stared at me. "But you are."

I'm not.

I'm not, I'm not, I'm not.

No. Way.


	7. Talking To Jack

I tapped on my desk with my pen, looking through the glass that separated my office from the room outside. Lilly was sat there, her hair shoved up, messily, and was talking on the phone. She laughed a lot, so I assumed it was a personal call.

I shook my head, and looked back down at the paper in front of me, trying to focus. Why wasn't I focussing?

The phone beeped, and I pressed a button.  
"Oliver, your brother's on the phone," Lilly said, her voice echoing through the speakers. "Line one."

"Thanks," I said, and she smiled at me through the glass, before turning back to her conversation. Then I picked up the receiver, and put the phone to my ear. "Hi Jack."

"Hey dude!" Jack cried down the phone. Seriously, I have never heard my brother so enthusiastic before. And it's about a party. "You pumped for tonight?"

My eyes wandered back to where Lilly was through the glass. "Sure. Whatever."

"Because that is the sound of one excited partier." Jack rolled his eyes. "She still on your mind?"

I sat back in my chair. "I'm telling you, that there is no she. Okay?"

"So who was that girl that you walked home?" Jack asked, and I could hear the tone of disbelief in his voice.

He didn't believe me.

Well, why the hell not? I was telling the truth!

"That was Lilly," I said, simply. The less I said, the less he knew, and the less he suspected. "She's my secretary."

"And you walked her home why?" Jack asked, being his annoying self, and prying.

I sighed. "Because it was getting dark, and raining heavily, and if someone crept up on her, then she wouldn't know about it."

Jack laughed. "And what the heck were you planning on doing about that? Any LA mugger would take you in three seconds."

"But that would be three seconds in which Lilly could run away," I replied, staring through the glass window.

"Oh. So you'd rather get knocked out than have her give up her handbag?" Jack asked, as if that were the only possible outcome of a mugging.

I tore my eyes away from Lilly, which was amazingly hard, and looked down at the work on my desk. "Jack, you know as well as I do, that a simple mugging could turn into anything. I wasn't going to let her walk alone, especially in the dark and rain, and you can try to find ulterior motives in there, but I'm telling you, that that's all it is."

"Ask her to the party," Jack said, obviously not listening to a word that I was saying. "Rachel! Carter is looking through the cupboards! I'm on the phone! Help!"

I rolled my eyes as he called for his wife, Rachel, to take care of their son. He was so useless with Carter. Sure, he taught him how to play soccer, and he made him laugh, but he had no idea how to look after him. "I'm not asking her to the party."

"Why not? You're friends, right? Tell her that you're being... friendly," Jack said.

Truth be told, I almost did ask her to the party. At her flat. When I was leaving, I almost did, but I ended up inviting her to the business trip next weekend. Which wasn't a bad substitute. Gives me a week to think of what to talk to her about on the trip up there.

But I can't ask her to the party. Why would I? Wouldn't that seem weird; your boss inviting you to a family party? I mean, yeah, sure, she invited me into her flat the other day, but that was because we were already outside of it. And it was raining. And she's nice, so she didn't want me to get wet. It wasn't because she wanted me to meet her friends.

"I can't," I said. "That would be too weird."

Jack sighed heavily. "Okay. I guess I can see where you're coming from. She was way too hot for you anyway."

"Thanks," I remarked sarcastically. "Your brotherly love means the world to me."

"It should do," Jack laughed. "Might not be around forever."

I sat back in my seat. "You planning on going somewhere?"

"No. I'm just saying: you never know what might happen - "

Wow. When did he get so philosophical?

" - I mean, I might wake up tomorrow, and you might have killed my whole family, and then I'm going to just hate you. Obviously."

Ah. That's more like Jack. Not philosophical; just stupid.

"I'll keep that in mind," I told him, and then said goodbye. I had just replaced the phone, when a knock in the door made me look up.

Lilly stood at the door, a drink in her hand, and a smile on her face. "Heya."

She must have finished her conversation while I wasn't looking. Not that I'm stalking her or anything. I'm just showing an interest.

"Hi," I smiled, looking down at the paper on the desk. Who was I kidding? It was boring, and I was never going to finish it.

"Brought you a drink. I didn't make it. So it's perfectly safe," she said, walking over to my desk, and putting it in front of me. "And I wanted to thank you. For walking me home the other night. Miley blew up after you left, telling me how stupid it was to walk home on my own in the dark and rain, so I'm immensely grateful."

I looked at her; into her deep blue eyes. "It was no problem. And I'm not sick, so there's nothing to worry about."

"That's good. I didn't want you getting a cold because you decided to help me out," she smiled, biting her lip.

"So... are you still up for this trip next weekend?" I asked, thinking fast.

She nodded. "Yeah. Miley was sort of annoyed that I had to cancel this Hannah concert..."

"You had plans? You should've said..." I said. She shouldn't have cancelled plans for some stupid business trip!

Lilly shook her head. "It was only another Hannah Montana concert. I've seen more than enough, believe me. And she won't miss Lol... me too much."

"You sure? Because I can go on my ow..." I began, but she cut me off.

"No! To be totally honest, I've seen Hannah Montana enough times to last me a lifetime. So you got me out. Another thing to thank you for," Lilly grinned. "Plus, this buisiness thing sounds fun. I've never done anything like it before. I mean, I stayed overnight on the Hannah Bus, but that novelty wore off."

I raised my eyebrows. "Fun? It really doesn't take much, does it?"

She shook her head. "Nope. I'm happy at the simplest things. It's weird really. Having a best friend like..."

Lilly trailed off, trying to think of how to end that sentence. Trying to think of how to lie plausibly, without it looking too obvious.

Too late.

But why push? She can have secrets. And I, being her boss and only her boss, have no inclination to know those secrets. Why would I need to know her secrets? It's not like I'm obsessed with her.

I'm totally not, by the way.

"Anyway. Yeah, so I can totally make it. It's only for the weekend, right?"

I nodded. "Uh-huh. One weekend. Friday night until Sunday night."

"So, anything in particular I need to bring?" she asked, looking at me intently.

"I don't think so. Work clothes really. And jeans. In case we get bored, and decide to put on casual clothes and sneak away," I said, and she laughed.

"Want me to bring big sunglasses too? Just so that they don't recognise us?"

I grinned. "Probably a good idea. Baseball cap to hide your hair."

Lilly smiled. "I'll get right onto that. Anyways, call me if you need me. Or just wave. You'll attract my attention eventually."

"But I'll be waving like an idiot for a while until you do," I replied.

"What makes you think it's the waving that will give people that impression?" she smiled innocently as she reached the door.

I just raised my eyebrows at her, and she laughed as she closed the door behind her. My eyes followed her as she walked back to her seat. When she reached it, she turned to the window, and saw me looking. Quickly, she pulled a face, and stuck out her tongue. Then she sat back down, innocently.

I laughed.

Very good Lilly Truscott. Very good.

**I _might_ be able to update tomorrow, but if not, you'll get an update on Saturday. I'm presenting a product for a competition on Saturday, so I won't be able to update then.**

**Anyway, the next few chapters will be more eventful than this one.**


	8. Smooth Flying

"I cannot believe you are ditching Hannah Montana for a business trip," Miley said, sitting on my bed as I packed my stuff. It was Thursday night, and I was leaving the next evening.

I sighed as I put a t-shirt into my bag. We'd had this conversation a dozen times or more, and quite frankly I was bored of it. "I'm not, Miley. I couldn't get out of this, and I've been to so many Hannah concerts. What is the problem? You've ditched me for Hannah a thousand times."

"Lilly, you know that that's different. I am Hannah, so I can't help it," Miley argued.

I folded my arms. "Well this is my job, and so neither can I. I'm only away for the weekend."

She sighed, and sat back. "Oliver invited you, didn't he?"

"Yes," I admitted. "But it's purely work, and we've both made it clear."

"Right. So you've both turned and said 'we don't love each other, so we're just working', have you?" Miley asked, raising her eyebrows.

I rolled my eyes, and turned back to my closet. "Of course not. But I can tell. He thinks it's just work. I know it's just work. Therefore it is merely work."

"Sure it is," Miley said sarcastically. "Are you sharing a suite too?"

I stayed quiet. Truth be told, we were. We couldn't do anything about it. But it's a posh hotel, and a two bedroom, two bathroom suite, so really, it's nothing. "I don't know, do I?"

"You are!" Miley screamed. "You are! I can tell from that hesitation, that you are, and you just don't want to admit it!"

I rolled my eyes. Why was she so interested? "Miley, I don't know. We need to get to the hotel, and then they tell us."

"Sure." Miley's voice was dripping with sarcasm. "Well, have a good time and all."

She got up, and went to the door. "And by the way, was that a dress you packed in there?"

I turned around, and looked at her. "No."

"Huh." She made a sound, and then left the doorway.

I turned back and looked into the bag. Okay, so it was a dress. But it was one you wear over trousers. And I was planning to wear it to work anyway, so it isn't like I'm showing off.

Is it?

---

"Oh my gosh..." I said, gripping the arms of the seat in the plane. "I just remembered how much I hate flying."

Oliver stared at me. "You just remembered?"

"Yes. I blocked it from my memory. I just remembered, because I got that butterfly feeling in my stomach, and it reminded me of the last flight that I went on. We almost died. Well. Miley insists that we didn't, but we went up and down so fast, that seriously, I think the plane was out of control," I rambled, looking out of the window, and seeing the floor fall away from me, instantly regretted it.

"Well seriously," Oliver said, noticing my reaction to the plane taking off. "It's a short flight, and the weather has been good. There's no risk. You're safer in an aeroplane than you are in a car, okay?"

Really? Are you? Because I would've thought that being high and you know, like about a thousand feet in the air, you'd have been in danger.

But there's something on Oliver's face that tells me that he's telling the truth, and that you are safer in a plane than in a car.

You learn something new every day.

"So we just need to take your mind off of the plane, okay?" he said, and looked thoughtful for a minute. "What'll take your mind off of the fact that you're in a plane in the air?"

I looked at him. "Not saying that would be a good start."

"Sorry..." he apologised.

I sat up properly, releasing my grip on the arm rest. "I don't know. Last time Miley just talked. But she can talk for Tennessee, so you probably won't want to do that. I mean, it's a long time just to be talking, and I don't want to make you dehydrated and whatever."

"The rate that you're talking at, you'll probably become dehydrated faster than I will," Oliver laughed. "But talk. I can do that. What do you want to talk about?"

I shrugged. "How was your brother's party on Friday?"

"Boring," he said. "It was a bunch of relatives, and people that I hadn't seen for years. I'm in no hurry to see them again, either. Jack enjoyed it though. In fact, he's planning another one. Can you believe it? He forces people to go through torture, and then tells them that they'll have to go through it again?"

I laughed. "Miley does the same thing. Except her parties aren't too bad. They just get tedious; seeing the same celebrities over and over..."

"What does Miley do?" Oliver asked, wrinkling her nose, obviously wondering why Miley invites celebrities to her parties.

I tried to think of something that wasn't a complete lie. "She... works in the music industry."

"Oh. Cool," Oliver said. "And obviously Jake is in with that crowd."

Duh! Why didn't I just say that?

"Totally," I nodded. "But yeah, they're really not that interesting. Now a party with you... that could be interesting."

Oliver laughed. "And why would that be interesting?"

I smiled. "Just because it's always funny to see your boss at a party. Like it's always fun to see them in the supermarket. It's like teachers... you don't see them with a social life."

"You don't think I have a social life?" Oliver faked hurt, but I could tell he was aching to laugh.

"I didn't mean that," I explained. "I just meant, that it's weird."

He raised his eyebrows. "Because that's a much better explanation."

"Shut up," I said, at a loss of anything else to say.

We kept talking; random stuff. Conversation does that. Leads on to weird places, and you just think 'how the hell did we go from talking about parties, to talking about gardens'?

"Can you believe how much work that old people do on their garden?" I laughed. We'd been laughing a lot during this conversation. "It's like, my gosh, your garden is fine! The grass doesn't need cutting twice a day!"

Oliver laughed. "My dad's started already. He's obsessed with cutting the hedges back. It's like, your hedges are practically at the fence. They don't need cutting anymore."

"And what the hell is with those bushes in shapes? You know, in like elephant shapes? Who wants a leafy elephant outside their house?" I giggled.

What? Seriously? I just giggled? What the hell is wrong with me? I don't _giggle. _

Luckily Oliver didn't notice. "I have no idea. I especially hate the -"

The pilot came over the intercom, so I didn't have chance to find out what he especially hated. "We will be landing in New York in approximately five minutes. Please fasten your seatbelts, and get ready for landing."

Whoa. Seriously? We're here already? It only seems like half an hour since we got on the plane. I looked at Oliver, and grinned. "It worked! I hardly even noticed!"

"That's awesome," he agreed.

I smiled at him. He had really amazing brown eyes.

Oh my gosh!

I can't think that!

I looked away quickly, and pretended to adjust my seatbelt. "So, where are we headed when we get off?"

"The hotel, I guess," Oliver said, also becoming amazingly fascinated with his seatbelt.

I nodded. "Cool."

"Yeah," he said.

I looked up, and our eyes met again. I smiled, and he smiled back. It was seconds later, that I noticed that everyone was getting up and moving around.

"I thought he said we had to put our seatbelts on..." I said, feeling stupid as everyone else got up.

Oliver took off his belt and stood up. "We've landed."

We had? The last plane I went on was awful at landing. It was bumpy, and I hated it so much. This one was different.

Maybe it was just the weather. Bad weather can make a bad landing, right?

But wouldn't you still feel it? You'd still feel the butterflies.

Unless they were drowned out by something else. Something more powerful.

"You coming?

Or are you gonna sit there all day?" Oliver asked, breaking me from my thoughts.

I looked up at him. "Sorry. Thinking."

"Uh oh!" he joked, and I rolled my eyes.

Then I got up, and began walking to the end of the plane.

It was strange. I hadn't felt the landing at all...

**So you got me. I'm sorry this chapter isn't very good, but I promise, the next ones will be much better. Promise. **

**And if LOL is still reading, she was about to say Lola. Not LOL. :-)**


	9. You're It

I left Lilly in the suite (which has two bedrooms, thank you very much) and walked down to where I was supposed to meet the other lawyers. Jerks, the lot of them. They're all so self-obsessed, and think that they can get any woman they want, because they earn a huge wad of money.

Unfortunately, it usually works.

"Oliver!" One of the arrogant guys called when I walked into the room. "It's been a long time, dude. How's it in LA?"

I shrugged. "Usual. Busy."

"I heard you were looking for a new PA. Found a decent one?" he asked, with a smirk. It was obvious that 'decent' in his eyes, meant 'hot'.

I didn't have time to answer, because he had looked over to the door.

"God. If you've found a PA hotter than her, you're one lucky guy." The guy stood, transfixed by whoever had just walked into the room.

I turned around, and saw Lilly standing there awkwardly, scanning the room for someone she knew. And seeing as the only person she was going to know was me, I guess she was looking for me. I knew I should call her, but seriously, I couldn't speak. Seriously, she looked amazing.

Ugh! Why am I thinking that?

"I'll be right back. I'm going to get me a date." The guy beside me stopped drooling, and walked over to her.

What?

I watched as he walked over to her, and leant his arm against the wall. Trying to look cool, obviously. It wasn't working.

Or maybe it was. Maybe she thought he did.

Wait. Why do I care whether she goes out with him? She can go out with him if she wants to.

Look away. Look away, and pretend that you don't care.

Pretend? No. Don't pretend you don't care. I mean... pretend you don't... no. You don't care, so you don't need to pretend you don't...

I found myself watching them anyway. Lilly is talking to him, but not comfortably. She looked around the room, and noticed me. A look of relief crossed her face. I couldn't hear what she said, but a few minutes later, she was walking over to me.

"Who was that guy?" she asked, as she reached me. "Because he was really freaky. Seemed to think I would go out with him, because he has money."

Yes! She didn't say she'd go out with him!

Not that I care. Because I don't. At all...

"Just some hot-shot lawyer from around here," I shrugged. "Pay no attention to them. Think that everyone loves them because they're rich. Unfortunately for them, you're not impressed by the money."

Lilly laughed, and shook her head. "Nope. Money is nothing. Well. It's good to have money and all, but I'm not going to go out with a jackass, just because they have enough money to live on forever."

"Good for you," I smiled. "A lot of people would just see the money."

"When you've had a friend like Hannah Montana, you don't see the money anymore," Lilly smiled. "I mean, she had so much money. And limousines, and a whole bunch of expensive stuff... but she didn't need any of it. She was an awesome person, and it didn't matter that she was like, a millionaire. Anyway. How long is this going to go on for?"

I shrugged. "Not long. This is just an introduction, and then there's going to be the most boring conference in the history of conferences tomorrow."

"I thought you liked your work," Lilly said, folding her arms and looking around the room. She obviously didn't notice that the majority of jerk lawyers were transfixed by her.

"Some of the time. It's like anything really. Half the time it's great. The other half... it... " I tried to think of a better word than 'sucks'.

She looked up at me. "It sucks."

Whoa. Freaky.

"For want of a better word, yes," I nodded, wondering how she knew that I was going to say that. Or maybe she didn't know that I was going to say that, but she just guessed.

Lilly laughed.

"Hey Oliver. You going to introduce me to your friend?" James - one of the most self-obsessed people that you'll ever have the misfortune to meet - sidled up, and looked at Lilly, almost hungrily.

I looked at Lilly, who had raised her eyebrows. She was looking less than impressed.

"I don't think it's up to me to introduce her," I said.

James looked at me, like I was an idiot, and then moved to stand in front of Lilly. "Have I died and gone to heaven?"

"Let me guess what comes next: because I seem to be standing in front of an angel? I don't think so. I'm no angel, and I don't think you'd be bound for heaven," Lilly said, as innocently as she possibly could.

"Feisty," James commented, unfazed.

Lilly rolled her eyes. "Jackass."

"Okay. I'll leave. But I promise you, you'll regret having turned me down."

"I somehow doubt that," Lilly stated, and then grabbed my arm, pulling me away from him. "God, can you believe those guys?"

I shook my head, still slightly stunned about the way she'd handled it. "Nope. Idiots."

"You can say that again," Lilly smiled slightly. "At least I work for you, and not any of them. Because if I worked for any of them, I might have to kill myself."

"Well then, it's definitely a good thing that you work for me, isn't it?" I agreed.

She nodded.

"Hello everyone, and welcome to the annual Weller and Dean conference. If you'd just like to sign in, confirming that you are all here, and then you can retire for the night. Tomorrow the conference will begin," an aging man spoke into a microphone on the stage. It was the same man as last year. And the year before. Seriously, you think he'd have retired by now.

Lilly turned to me. "What do we do now?"

"Well, I've signed in, and you don't have to. We can go and explore New York?" I asked, looking at my watch. We had a while. It was only seven o'clock.

She nodded eagerly. "Awesome."

---

It was ten o'clock when we got back to the hotel. Lilly had spent the last two hours window shopping, and no matter how many times I told her to go in and buy something, she refused. And the hour before that were spent up the Empire State Building. And yes, it did take an hour to get there, go up, and then come down. Obviously.

"I can't believe you didn't buy anything," I said, as we walked through the front doors.

She turned and smiled. "I didn't need any of it. Can you believe that that woman at Starbucks thought we were married?"

"I don't even know where she got that idea," I shrugged, and pretended that I'd thought it was insane.

Wait. Pretended? Again? No. Okay. It is insane. It was insane. I'm not pretending that I think that. I'm just not.

"Me neither," Lilly smiled, but the smile didn't reach her eyes. We walked to the elevator, and got in, pressing the button for the fifth floor.

As the elevator rose, Lilly turned to me, and grinned. "Want to play a game?"

"What now?" I asked, slightly confused.

She was silent for a second, and the lift stopped on our floor. Just before the doors opened, she tapped me on the arm. "You're It."

Then she was gone, up the hallway, laughing.

I followed her, catching her up halfway. "Tag? Seriously?"

"You're It," she repeated. "So I'd say so."

I caught her outside the door to our suite. "Nu-uh. You're It now."

She laughed. "Damn it."

"It isn't like you were running all that fast," I grinned, opening the door with a card swipe.

Lilly smiled, and pushed the door back. "Hey! I didn't want to wake people up."

"Oh yeah. Because you can laugh as loud as you want if you're running slowly," I said, sarcastically.

She rolled her eyes, and pushed me. "Shut up."

"Uh, no," I shook my head.

"Uh, yes," she argued, and stepped closer.

I raised my eyebrows. "Make me."

There was silence for about thirty seconds, and then she turned away. "I'm going to bed, 'kay? See you bright and early tomorrow! For the most boring conference in the world!"

"Yeah," I nodded, and smiled at her as she retreated into her room. I stood still for a minute, and then walked into my own room.

What was that? Because if I didn't know better, I'd say it was flirting.

Thank God I know better, huh?


	10. Is Someone Getting The Best

Ugh. I can't sleep. And it's now...

I rolled over and looked at the clock on the table next to me.

12:40.

It is now 12:40, and I'm not asleep yet. And while that may not be all that late to some people, it is when I went to bed two hours ago.

I'm going to have to get up. Insomnia doesn't go away just like that, and I'm hungry anyway. But I don't want to wake Oliver up.

Silently, I slid out of bed, and padded over to the door. I turned the handle, and walked out into the living room area. It was a really posh suite. TV, mini-fridge, CD system. DVD player. The company must be spending loads on getting us to stay here. But it's their money.

Mini-fridge. Wonder what's in there...

I opened it, and looked inside, finding drinks, food... ice cream. How can ice cream be in a fridge and not melt? I looked at a sticker that was stuck on the fridge.

Oh. It's a freezer too. That makes a lot more sense.

Taking the ice cream out, I picked up one of the spoons you were supposed to use to make coffee. Then I walked over to the couch, and sat down, grabbing the TV remote as I did so. I pressed the button, and music blared out of the speakers.

"Oh! Shit!" I muttered, hastily turning the sound down. Who the hell needs the volume that high? And why leave it like that?

I sat for a minute, making sure that I hadn't woken anyone. Hopefully I hadn't. It wasn't my fault anyway. When I was satisfied that I hadn't, I opened the tub of ice cream, and dug my spoon into it.

A creak on the floor behind me, made me jump, and I turned around, my heart beating fast. Oliver was stood at his doorway, looking at me through bleary eyes. He was wearing a wrinkled t-shirt and tracksuit bottoms. "Lilly?"

"I'm so, so, sorry," I said, getting up. "I couldn't sleep, and I got up, and put on the TV, and it was really loud, so I had to turn it down... I'd hoped that I hadn't woken anyone... did I wake you?"

Oliver shook his head. "No, not at all... okay. Yeah, you did, but I wasn't sleeping well anyway, so..."

"I'm really sorry. I didn't mean to. God, I feel so bad now..." I said, looking at the floor. He was sleeping, and I woke him up! How selfish is that? Not that I meant to or anything, but still...

"No. Don't. It's fine," Oliver said, walking toward the couch, and sitting down. "I wasn't sleeping well anyway, and kept waking up ever half hour. So I would've woken up in a minute anyway."

I sighed, and sat next to him. "I still feel bad."

"Well you shouldn't," he said, smiling at me. "Plus, you have ice cream. So I'd much rather be here, than in bed, trying and failing to sleep."

I laughed. "There's about three more tubs in the mini-fridge/freezer. There's also chocolate, and some other stuff that can't be good for you."

"Stuff that isn't good for you, is always the stuff that's the best," Oliver said, and got up, pulling the entire contents of the mini-fridge onto the floor, and over to me.

I glanced back to the TV, and saw the music video for 'Best of You' by the Foo Fighters starting. I love this song. "I love this song!"

"Really?" Oliver looked up at me, amused.

I nodded, and began singing. "I've got another confession to make, I'm your fool. Everyone's got their chains to break, holding you. Were you born to resist, or be abused? Is someone getting the best, the best, the best, the best of you?"

"You've got a good singing voice," Oliver smiled up at me.

I blushed slightly, and slid down to join him on the floor. "Not really."

"I'd say you give Hannah Montana a run for her money," he said, and I laughed. If only he knew.

"Well thank you," I smiled, and looked back at the video. "Is someone getting the best, the best, the best, the best of you?"

Oliver grinned. "Has someone taken your faith, it's real, the pain you feel, your trust, you must, confess."

"Is someone getting the best, the best, the best, the best of you?" I sung back, biting my lip slightly.

Our eyes connected, and I didn't want to blink. Like in those games you play when you're small. The staring contest. Except this wasn't a contest. This wasn't a game. It was real.

"I've got another confession to make. I'm no fool," Oliver sung, and I have to admit, he didn't sound half bad.

I was focussing so hard on not blinking, that I forgot to sing the next line. "Oh! Somewhere new... were you born to resist, or be abused? I swear I'll never give in... I refuse."

"Is someone getting the best, the best, the best, the best of you?" Oliver said, looking away at the TV.

I bit my lip, as the song continued.

_Is someone getting the best, the best, the best, the best of you? _

"Has someone taken the faith, it's real, the pain you feel, your trust, you must, confess... is someone getting the best, the best, the best, the best of you?"

The song ended, and I tore my gaze away from Oliver.

Jeez, Lilly. He's your boss. You can't be staring at him like this. Miley would start getting ideas if she was here. Thank goodness she isn't!

"I love that song," I grinned, sitting back against the couch. "Anyone who doesn't like the Foo Fighters is insane."

Oliver nodded, and opened up the ice cream. "Where did you get the spoon?"

I pointed over to the coffee maker, and the tray of supplies next to it. Oliver got up, and walked over to where I was pointing. He picked up a spoon, and looked at it. "It's made of plastic."

"I know," I laughed. "But it's all we have."

He rolled his eyes, and picked up the tray. "Just in case they break."

I laughed as he sat back down. "Midnight feast! I always loved midnight feasts. There was just something about eating at midnight. Me and Miley used to do it at sleepovers, and talk about girly stuff."

"Girly stuff?" Oliver queried, shoving a spoonful of ice cream in his mouth.

"Yeah. Stuff like who we had a crush on, and which teachers we hated," I smiled, remembering sitting in Miley's room, talking by flashlight.

Oliver raised his eyebrows. "Who do you have a crush on?"

"Oh, yeah, right. You're not getting that out of me," I smiled.

"So you do have a crush on someone?" Oliver said, sitting back.

I looked at him. "I didn't say that."

"Oh. So you don't?" Oliver asked, raising his eyebrows. "I'm attempting girly conversation here. The least you could do is give me something."

I laughed. "Okay. Fine. Um... I don't think that I have a crush on anyone at the moment. But I'm not entirely sure. What about you?"

"I think I'm in the same boat as you. My brother is insisting that I do. That I'm going to marry this person. It's annoying," he said.

Oh my gosh! Miley was exactly the same. "Miley is the exact same. I keep telling her that I don't like this guy... at least, I don't think I do, but she insists that I do. I'd like to know how she's sure of it, when I'm not sure of it."

"So. Who is this mystery guy?" Oliver asked.

I looked away. Well I can't say that it's him, can I? "Just some guy I used to know at school. I doubt it's anything to be honest. Why? Who's the girl?"

He hesitated. "Same as you. Someone I used to know at school."

"Oh," I said, looking down at the ice cream. Then I looked back up. "You want a drink? I want water. Do you want water?"

I got up, and turned my back to him, getting ready to go to the sink.

"Wait a minute," I heard him say. "Is that a tattoo?"

Crap. I didn't think my pyjamas were that low! I blushed, and bit my lip. How the heck had he seen that? And more importantly, why was he looking that far down my back?

**So I'll give you the second part to this chapter tomorrow. :-)**


	11. Secrets

"Okay, so there has to be a story behind that," I said, as Lilly sat down. She looked at me, and I could tell that she had hoped I'd drop it. But it's me. And I just noticed that she has this ink picture on her back! I'm bound to ask, right?

"There's not," she shook her head, but it was fairly obvious that she was lying.

I rolled my eyes. "If you're going to lie, at least lie well. Now come on, tell me the story behind the... tattoo on your back. What is it, to begin with?"

"It's nothing," she shrugged, and picked up the remote, turning it up.

"Lilly," I raised my eyebrows. "Answer my question."

She turned to me, slightly pinker than usual. It was cute. "Okay. Fine. Um... it's a lily. And you're the first one to know about it, besides me, because even Miley doesn't know. I was seventeen, and feeling rebellious. So I got slightly tipsy, and went to a tattoo parlour, and tada. Woke up the next morning with bandages around my back."

"How does your friend not know?" I asked, amazed that she'd been able to hide it for four years.

"Miley doesn't spend a whole lot of time looking at my back," she replied, a smirk on her face. "Unlike you, obviously."

I tried to think of something to say. "Well... it's not like I could help it."

"Yeah. Right. Because out of everywhere in the room, my back was the only place that you could possibly look at," Lilly raised her eyebrows.

"Uh-huh," I said, lamely.

Lilly folded her arms, placing her drink of water on the carpet in front of her. "Okay, so now you know all about my tattoo, what about you? You have to have some hidden rebellion. Some dirty little secret."

"Me? No way. I'm practically perfect in every way," I lied.

"Right," she said, sarcastically.

I tried to fight the urge to look at her, because I knew she'd be looking at me in a way that just made me crack.

Don't look. Don't look.

"Fine," I groaned. Yes, I looked. And I cracked. "Okay, what do you want to know?"

"Got any scars? Tattoos? Illegitimate love children?" Lilly asked. Okay, she was kidding about that last one, right?

I raised my eyebrows. "What?"

"Okay. Forget the last one," she said, and motioned for me to talk.

I thought about it. "Uh... well I have this huge scar on the back of my neck, from when I climbed up a tree... and fell off."

"Why were you climbing up a tree?" she asked, wrinkling her nose slightly.

"Why were you getting drunk?" I retorted.

Holding up her hands, Lilly laughed. "Touché."

I laughed, and took another spoonful of ice cream. "Let me see the tattoo."

"What?" She sounds surprised.

"Let me see your tattoo," I said, jabbing the plastic spoon back into the ice cream. It snapped. "See, I told you that these spoons were crap!"

She laughed; an amazing laugh. "I think you've seen enough of my tattoo! And you shouldn't jab it in so hard then!"

"I have not. I didn't even know what it was, did I? So I can't have seen too much. And I didn't," I said, looking at her.

"I'm not letting you see anymore of my tattoo," she shook her head defiantly. "And you obviously did, because otherwise it wouldn't have broken in half. And how are you gonna get the little spoon part out now? It's embedded in there."

I looked down at the ice cream, and wondered the same thing. Then I shrugged. "Like this." I dug my finger into the ice cream, and pulled out the bottom of the spoon. "Wanna lick the ice cream off now?"

"Not especially," she shook her head, her eyes glittering. "Not now it's had your fingers all over it."

I laughed. "Well I'm just gonna have to find another place to put it then, aren't I?"

"Yeah," she stuck her tongue out, and then took it off me, tentatively. She held it between her index finger and thumb, and dropped it into her glass of water. "I'm not drinking that now."

"I'd guessed," I said, as the broken spoon sunk to the bottom of the glass. "But you still have to show me your tattoo."

Her eyes were sparkling. "Okay. But you have to show me your scar."

"Fine," I shrugged.

She got up, and pulled her pyjama bottoms down slightly, revealing a small flower. "I'm just glad I picked this. The state I was in, I could've gotten up, and had a heart saying 'I love Mom'."

"Classy," I remarked, as she put her pyjamas back to where they'd been, and then sat back down.

"Now show me the scar," she demanded, as if it were something important. It was just a scar from where I fell off a tree when I was young.

I rolled my eyes, and lifted the back of my hair, showing her my scar. She lightly traced it with her finger, and I shivered.

"Sorry," she apologised, and sat back against the couch. "It just looked weird."

I sat back beside her. "It's fine."

Silence took the place of words for a minute. It wasn't an awkward silence, as such, but I could tell that we were both thinking of something to say.

"So... tell me about you," she said, just as I opened my mouth to ask her the exact same question. Great minds think alike, huh? Because that's all it is. Thinking alike. It's nothing else.

I shrugged. "Not much to tell really. Oliver Oken. Grew up in San Francisco. Got good grades, and then got into law school. Came to Los Angeles, began working at Weller and Dean. You turned up, and here we are. What about you?"

"My story is incredibly more interesting than that," Lilly laughed.

I raised my eyebrows. "Oh, really?"

"Yes, really," she challenged.

Motioning for her to begin talking, I took another spoon, and dug it into the ice cream, taking care not to break this one.

"Okay. Well, I have on younger brother. Michael. I remember when he was born, and how ugly he was. I didn't want a brother. Wanted a sister. And then Miley came to Malibu, and she became the sister that I never had. We totally did everything together. Until Jake Ryan came along, and they began going out. Took them long enough. She totally wouldn't admit that she liked him. But I managed to convince her to go out with him, and then she said yes, and so they've been together ever since. I had a pretty good few years in high school. Hanging out with Jake and... Hann... his friends, meant that we knew celebrities. Which was awesome. When we left school, me and Miley moved to LA, and got an apartment. Now we lived together, totally like sisters. And then I resigned work with Hannah Montana, and came to work for you, and here we are," she said, finishing her story as I had done.

I had been watching as she spoke; watching her eyes light up when talking about her best friend, and how she smiled when she talked about when she was young.

"See? So much more interesting," Lilly smiled.

I nodded. "Absolutely."

"Okay, so I'm going to be very, very nosy here, and say that your life story wasn't detailed enough," she said, obviously slightly hyper due to lack of sleep. "So you have to tell me one thing about yourself that you've not told anyone before."

Yeah. Because I'm going to do that. "Lilly, there's a reason that I won't have told anyone. So what makes you think I'm going to tell you?"

Lilly raised her eyebrows. "Because I asked you. And if you don't, you have to do a forfeit."

"What are we, twelve?" I asked, looking at her in disbelief.

She shrugged. "Might as well be. Come on!"

I thought for a bit. "Um... okay. Right. I had this teddy bear, when I was young, right?"

Lilly nodded, a look of intent interest on her face.

"And I used to believe that he was real. Like, amazingly real. You know, when I was asleep, he came alive? Like Woody and Buzz from Toy Story," I said, feeling weird as I said it. The whole point was that I'd never told anyone this before. And I probably never would have. Yet Lilly... she just seemed to be different. "I used to steal food from the kitchen to leave by him and feed him, and I used to read him books and everything."

"What happened?" she asked. "I mean, why'd you stop?"

I shrugged. "Grew out of it I guess. The way we all grow out of things."

She smiled at me. "That's sweet. That you used to feed your teddy. It really is."

"Thanks," I said, clearing my throat. It wasn't as hard speaking to her as I'd anticipated. Probably because she hadn't laughed, and told me that I was a freak. "What about you? What have you done that you've never told anyone before?"

"You mean besides the tattoo?"

I nodded. "And you can't use that as an excuse. Because I know how you women work, and you'll try to wriggle out of it by saying 'you saw my tattoo, so I shouldn't have to tell you!'"

"Ugh."

I knew that I'd been right, and that that was what she'd been planning to do. "Fine. Um... okay. But you have to promise not to laugh, because this is so stupid, and the reason I haven't ever told anyone, is because I just know they'll laugh."

"I won't laugh."

"Okay. Um... when I was like, four, I used to think... I used to honestly think... that my parents were aliens. Don't laugh! I used to believe that when I had gone to bed, and my baby brother had been put to sleep, they used to take off their human suits, and speak to each other in their alien language. I used to sit at the top of the stairs, way after my bedtime, and try to hear them talking in a dialect that I didn't understand. Sometimes I got so close to being caught by my mom or dad, and used to run to bed so fast, because I thought that they might kill me with their alien stun-guns. It went on for ages, until I just realised how stupid it was one day. But I've never told anyone about it, because of the stupidity of it."

She looked embarrassed as she said this. I smiled at her; her story was much sweeter than mine. I tried to imagine her as a four-year-old, sitting on the top step, clutching the banister and trying to hear her parents talking like aliens. It was cute.

"See, now you think I'm a total freak, don't you?" she rambled. "You think I'm a freak, and you don't want to be working with a freak, but seriously, I only thought it for like, a year. God, that made things worse, didn't it? A whole year. Ugh!"

I laughed. "Lilly, it's fine. I don't think you're a freak. I think you were a kid, and we all did things like that. I fed my soft toy, didn't I?"

"Yeah, but that was cute. I was just a weirdo."

"No, yours was cute," I replied. "In it's own special way."

She laughed. "Well thanks."

I turned my attention back to the TV screen, where an Oasis video was playing. Lilly smiled, and sung along with it.

"I said maybe, you're gonna be the one that saves me, and after all, you're my wonderwall..."

I watched as she closed her eyes and sung, as if the song transported her back to a place, as songs sometimes do. They remind you of things. Take you back to places.

This song... this song will now always bring me back to here.

**I am soooooo sorry. So. So. So. So. So. Sorry. But, as some of you may have heard, flooding in England is bad, and I haven't been directly hit, but some of my family have. They've been with us, and so the computer has been off access due to the amount of e-mails that have had to be sent to workplaces, friends... all that jazz. Anyway, the fuss has died down, so I managed to get online. I promise I'll update as often as I can, but until this mess sorts out, it might not be once every day. I'll try. **

**But, I have been doing productive things. I finished the last Harry Potter book in 11 hours! Which has to be a record, for me anyway. But I shan't spoil it. **


	12. Knows Me Too Well

Wow it's light in here. Didn't I close the curtains before I went to bed last night? I'm pretty sure I did. I remember pulling them closed.

So why the hell is it so light in here?

I opened one eye, and discovered why it was so light. I wasn't in the bedroom that I'd been given. Instead, I was in the living room of the suite. And I wasn't alone.

"Oh my gosh!" I hissed, as I sat up, taking my head off of Oliver's shoulder, and waking him up in the process. I was _not _lying on my boss's shoulder. I just wasn't. It didn't happen.

"What?" Oliver asked, rubbing a hand over his eyes.

I looked at the clock on the TV, which was still playing music videos. We'd obviously fallen asleep and forgotten to turn it off. Well, there's our contribution to global warming. "It's like, eleven o'clock! We're so late! And they're totally going to think... get up! Get up!"

"Lilly," Oliver began.

"No. No 'Lilly'. No. Get up. You're late, and it's my fault for waking you up last night, so just shut up, and get ready."

"Lilly - "

I got up, and wrinkled my nose at the mess we'd made. Melted ice cream...eew. Broken spoons. Wrappers. For two adults we sure made chaos. "Oliver, just get ready. I'm gonna tidy up, because we don't want to get charged for leaving this suite in a mess, do we?"

"Lilly - "

I turned to him, and put my hands on my hips. He was still sat on the floor, looking up at me. "What? And this better be good."

"We're not late. The conference doesn't start for an hour yet," Oliver said to me, an amused look on his face.

"Oh." I dropped my arms to my side. "Well whatever. I still need to tidy up." I turned away from him, and busied myself with picking up all the wrappers on the floor. We'd eaten a lot last night. Wow. "And you need to go and get ready."

He laughed, and turned off the TV. Then he began gathering up the dozens of spoons that we seemed to have broken. Jeez, did we break them for the fun of it? "I appreciate your concern for my job, but I have the ability to get ready in about fifteen minutes."

"Well so do I," I retorted, although I'm not sure he believed it. "You don't have to help."

"I think I helped make the mess," Oliver said. "So I think I can help clean it up."

I looked at him. "You don't have to."

"You can keep saying that, but I'm still going to help."

"So I may as well just let you help," I sighed.

Oliver nodded. "May as well. Plus, you'll get it done faster with two people helping."

I laughed. "Not at the pace that we're going. I've only picked up three wrappers. Where the hell did we put all of this chocolate last night?"

"Our stomachs?"

"Thank you for that input," I said, and almost immediately regretted it. Sure, I count Oliver as my friend, but I don't want to insult him. He pays me. So I don't want to do anything that could result in me getting fired. Because that would be bad.

Oliver didn't seemed fazed. "No problem."

Did he pick up that I was being sarcastic?

He's a lawyer. Of course he did.

I think.

---

I pulled a top over my head, and then looked in the mirror. It would do. It's not like people come to these things to see what everyone else is wearing.

Usually I'd be shattered, but the truth is, I'm not. Okay, so I had less than three hours sleep last night. And that three hours happened to be whilst leaning on my boss's shoulder, which is slightly embarrassing. Not that he knows that bit of information. Or if he does, he hasn't mentioned it.

My cell phone interrupted the silence, and I crawled across the bed to pick it up. The screen flashed "Miley" at me, and I bit my lip. What do I say? I mean, if she asks, I don't really want to lie. But if I tell her what happened - which was hardly anything, by the way - then she'll jump to the wrong conclusion, and think that I'm in love with him or something. Heck, she already thinks I'm in love with him. And I'm not adding fuel to the fire.

"Hello?" I asked, sliding open the cell phone. If she asked, I'd say that we talked last night. But there's really no need to mention the fact that I woke up leaning on his shoulder. She doesn't need to know that. Because it was nothing. Obviously.

"Lilly!" she cried. "You said you'd call me yesterday, but did Uncle Earl leave a morsel of Thanksgiving dinner on his plate?"

I wrinkled my nose, and sat down on the bed. "What?"

"It means no, Lilly! You didn't call me! Why the heck not?" she cried down the phone. Beware the wrath of Miley.

"Been busy. We had the introduction yesterday, and we explored New York for a bit. I know I went there with you, but you were on tour, and we had to leave so early, so I never really got a chance to look around. Then it was like ten o'clock here, and I couldn't remember the time difference. I didn't want to wake you," I said, and surprisingly it was a plausible excuse. Usually I can't think of anything convincing, but I guess this time was lucky.

Miley sighed. "Who is 'we'?"

"Me and Oliver," I snapped. "And I know what you're thinking, and you can just not say it. Because I don't need to tell you again that nothing is going on."

"You might need to tell yourself again," Miley replied. "So why didn't you call this morning?"

I lay back on the bed. "I slept late."

"And why did you sleep in late?" Miley asked, sounding like a detective. Or a lawyer, and I was the one being prosecuted.

"Because I was watching TV late last night," I half-lied. I was watching TV last night.

There was silence on the other end, and I could tell that Miley was itching to ask something else; something that she knew I wouldn't like. "Okay. Well, you get home tonight, right?"

"Yeah," I answered, wondering what she wanted to ask. You know, I didn't want to answer it, but I wanted to hear it, just so that I could know what she thought.

"Cool," she said. "I'll see you tonight then. Jake's coming over."

I forced a laugh. "As if he hasn't been there all weekend."

"You know me too well," Miley laughed.

And she knows me too well. She knows that this thing with Oliver - although I've only known him for month or so - she knows that it could be deeper than I'm admitting. And I guess I know that too. But I'm not admitting it. No way.

And that didn't count as admitting it.

I can tell she's thinking the same thing. It's this weird 'best-friends-almost-sisters' thing. I know that she's in LA, thinking that she can see into my heart.

"I know," I replied.

An awkward silence filled the conversation.

"Right. Well, I'll see you tonight," Miley said quickly.

I nodded. "Yeah. You will. See you later."

We hung up before anything else could be said. Not that it needed to be. She knows me too well... and she knows it.

**My family are out for the night (if you read the AN in the last chapter you'll know that they're crashing at ours) and so you might have another chapter tonight. That one should be good, because while I've been unable to access the computer I've been planning. I'm not very good at planning, but this should work out. :D**


	13. Wrong Feelings

"The plane will be landing in approximately five minutes, at LAX. We ask you to fasten your seatbelts as we begin the descent, and hope you've had a good flight," the pilot said.

I fastened the seatbelt, and glanced at Lilly to see if she'd fastened hers. She had. She was sat, biting her thumbnail and looking out of the window. Her hair was shoved up with an elastic band, that I assumed she'd just found. She pulled her thumb away from her mouth, and inspected it. When she saw that there was no more available nail to bite, she moved on to her other thumb.

"Are you okay?" I asked, wondering if the nail-biting was a nervous habit, or whether she just did it all the time.

At the sound of my voice, Lilly turned away from the window, and looked at me. The question seemed to process, and she nodded. "Yeah. Sorry, I was thinking, and when I think I usually go into a daze."

"Do you always bite your nails?" I asked, motioning to the thumbnail that was now uneven and scratchy.

"Not always. Just sometimes."

She moved her hand away from her mouth, and put it on the rest beside her. After a few seconds, she began drumming a beat on the plastic. It was almost as though she were nervous, and had to be doing something to take her mind off of it.

"Sorry," she apologised, when she realised that she was tapping. "Miley is always tapping, and I just picked it up off her. When are we landing?"

I raised my eyebrows. "Now."

"Oh. Right. Miley said she'd meet me at the airport, but she probably won't. She'll have been too busy with Jake. I'll have to call her. Stupid airplane. Why can't you have your phone turned on? I mean, what if there's an emergency?"

"I think they're worried about the frequency interfering with the equipment they use. If that happens, the plane will most likely crash," I said. God, I probably sounded like such a smart alec.

Lilly sighed. "You think they'd have found a way to stop that happening."

"You'd think so," I said, trying not to say something too smart. But I didn't want to say something completely stupid either. "You could just get a cab to your flat."

"I could," she nodded. "But I'd still have to call ahead, because I'm not risking going to my flat, where Miley and Jake are alone, without telling them that I'm coming. I've given them a weekend alone, and I'm almost positive that they've taken advantage of that." She made a face, and shuddered. "Eew."

I laughed. "How long have they been going out?"

"Since like, high school. About tenth grade. Well, they had to go out, didn't they? I still don't know how she could refuse the 'knight in shining armour' thing. And then he announced that he was in love with her on TV. And then she told him about - " Lilly trailed off, and fell silent for a second. "Yeah. A long time. It's amazing that they didn't leave school and buy a house together. But he was constantly travelling due to movies, and living with me was far more appealing."

"As it would be," I smiled. That didn't mean anything. It was a friendly comment, that had absolutely no ulterior meaning whatsoever. Don't even think it.

Lilly smiled. "Naturally. It's me. Who wouldn't want to live in the presence of complete awesome-ness?"

"I can't think of anyone." I grinned.

"Exactly!" As she laughed, she bit her lip and her eyes lit up.

Then she looked back out of the window, watching as the runway swooped up to meet us. Obviously it was the other way around; the runway isn't moving at all and it's the plane that is swooping down. But it just gives the illusion of the runway swooping up... yeah, whatever.

"Hey Oliver..." Lilly began. When I looked at her, she spoke quieter, a small smile on her face as she said it. "Thanks for inviting me on this trip. You said that it'd be totally boring, but it wasn't that bad."

I shrugged. "I guess something made it different this year."

The only thing different about the conference, was a new employee. One who had barely just started. One who was sitting right next to me now.

"I guess it did," she smiled, as the light came on telling us that we could unfasten our seatbelts and begin to get off the plane.

---

We ended up sharing a cab home. Well, we lived near enough each other, and there was no point in sending double the amount of pollution into the atmosphere. I care a lot about the planet, as you can tell.

"I'd better call Miley," Lilly remembered, and pulled her cell phone out of her pocket. Pressing a few buttons - not enough to be a phone number, so she probably had her on speed-dial - she smiled at me, and then held the phone up to her ear. I watched her wait for someone to answer. Someone obviously did. "Hey. Yeah, me. No. I'm in a cab and we're about five minutes away, so stop whatever you are doing, and if my bedroom door is unlocked, I'm moving out. Or disinfecting everything in there. I'm serious. Good. See you in five."

She slid the phone shut, and sat back. "I was serious."

"I believed you," I said, trying not to laugh. "What? She didn't?"

"I lock the door to my bedroom every time I go out, even though Miley has a key. We have a key to every room in the house each, but I wouldn't dare use the key to Miley's room, so I hope she has the same morals."

"I'm sure she does."

Lilly let out a short laugh, and then sat forward again. "I'm paying for this, alright? I'll get out, and pay extra for yours."

"Yeah, right," I said, rolling my eyes. Like that was going to happen. She didn't even know how far away I lived, nor was I telling her. Because I couldn't let her pay. I wasn't even going to pay; just claim it back from the company.

"Seriously, I want to pay," she said, adamantly. Well, she can be as adamant as she wants, but it still isn't going to happen.

I shook my head.

"Okay, why aren't you going to let me?" she asked.

"Because there's no need. You don't know how much it'll be. I would've had to travel past your street anyway, so technically I'd have been paying this much whether you were in here or not. And finally, I'm just going to claim it back anyway, so there's no point at all."

Lilly looked at me for a minute, and then sighed. "Fine. Jeez, you're good at arguing with people."

"It's my job," I shrugged.

"Yeah, yeah." She waved a hand in the air. "Whatever. I happen to be very good at winning arguments myself."

I raised my eyebrows. "Oh really?"

"Yuh-huh. I always win arguments with Miley and Jake. Probably because I pull the 'I'm all alone, and you have him, and that isn't fair' card. But hey, if you've got it, flaunt it," she laughed. "I don't think that's what that phrase was intended for, but whatever."

I smiled as we pulled up to her building.

The cab driver pulled in, and stopped. Lilly's hand moved to the door handle, but she didn't pull it. Instead she turned to me, and smiled. "Thanks again for inviting me. It got me out of Miley and Jake's way, and it wasn't bad. Plus, the midnight... thing was sort of fun."

"Yeah," I nodded. "And, like I said, it was no problem."

"Anyway... I'll see you tomorrow? For another day at work? Seriously, no days off this week," Lilly said, her hand still resting on the door. "How will we survive?"

"I'm sure we'll find a way," I smiled.

She nodded, and pulled open the door. "See you tomorrow." Before closing the door, she gave me a small wave, and stuck the tip of her tongue out. I didn't have time to respond, because the door was closed a second later, and she was running up to her building.

I watched until she had disappeared through the front door, and then turned to the cab driver, telling him the address of my building. As we drove away, I stole a glance back at the building.

Damn it Oliver, you're not supposed to be feeling like this about someone you work with. You're just not.


	14. Maybe

Miley was waiting for me when I got home. That sounds all menacing, but it wasn't really. I let myself in, and walked into the living room, ready to collapse onto the couch, and try to process the weekend, and found Miley watching TV. Jake was nowhere in sight.

"You're home," she stated, looking up from the TV.

I put my bag on the floor, and nodded. "Obviously."

"How was it?" Miley asked, and I got the feeling that she wasn't talking about the business trip. Or the flight back.

Collapsing on the couch opposite her, I raised my eyebrows. "How was what?"

"The conference," she said, pretending that she'd been talking about that all along. Yeah, she hadn't. I know these things.

"Boring," I said. It had been. It's not like I expected anything less. But the fact that Oliver had been sitting opposite me looking just as bored, made it less boring. If that makes any sense whatsoever.

Miley looked back at the television, where a rerun of Friends was on. She was silent for a second, and then turned back to me. "Really?"

"Yeah. What, do you think I'm lying to you?" I laughed, and closed my eyes.

"No. I just... I was just wondering, is all," she said after a moments hesitation. I didn't fully believe her, but why cause an argument? She'd deny that she thought I was lying, and we'd just end up mad at each other.

I opened my eyes again, and sat up straight. "Miley, can I ask you something?"

Miley looked at me, suddenly a whole lot more interested. "Of course. But if it's a really, really personal question, then I am entitled not to answer it, right?"

"It's not," I said, shaking my head. "Okay, you know how you totally denied that you liked Jake in high school? What changed your mind?"

Miley picked the remote up off the armrest next to her, and turned the sound down on the television. I looked at her, and she shrugged. "This is an important conversation. Right, before I answer your question, I'm going to ask a question of my own: what made you ask that question?"

"I don't know," I lied. "Just thought about it. You never actually told me, or if you did, I'd forgotten. So I was just wondering."

She doesn't look convinced, but to be totally honest, I didn't sound all that convincing. So I don't blame her.

"Lilly, you can tell me anything, you know," Miley said, raising her eyebrows.

I looked away, knowing what she wanted me to say, and knowing that I was never going to say it. Ever. Because it isn't true. "I have nothing to tell you Miles, I was just wondering about you and Jake. That's all."

Miley sighed. "I don't know. I guess I just realised that denying my feelings made them even more apparent to those around me. And that there was no point in denying it, because I was just making myself more unhappy. When I finally told you about it, it felt really good. Like a huge weight had been lifted."

I stayed quiet for a minute, and then looked back at her. "Okay."

"Okay what?" Miley looked at me, a confused expression written on her face.

"Okay. I suck at lying," I groaned.

Miley was looking more interested by the second. "Are you trying to tell me something?"

"I'm saying that I don't know what I'm feeling, but it isn't normal, and I don't know whether I like it," I said, avoiding eye contact.

"Lilly, you're going to have to explain this a little more to me."

She just wants me to say it. I know she does. She knows full well what I'm talking about, but she wants me to say it. Well whatever. I'm not saying it.

"I haven't been feeling well," I said, getting up. "I think I'm just gonna go to bed. Maybe I'll feel better in the morning."

Miley looked at me; scrutinizing me. Well she could stare at me all she wanted, but I wasn't saying anything. Nu-uh. Eventually, realising that I wasn't saying anything other than what I'd said, she nodded. "Okay. See you in the morning."

I smiled at her, and she smiled back, but it was strained. "Yeah."

Without waiting for a reply, I walked into my bedroom, and closed the door. Then I walked over to my bed, and sat down on it heavily.

The truth was, I'd known Oliver for just over a month, and yet I didn't know him. I mean, sure, I knew that he used to think his teddy came alive, and I knew that he liked the Foo Fighters. But I didn't _know _him. I didn't know the little things, like his favourite colour, or his favourite food. Yet... those little things didn't seem to matter, because it seriously felt like I'd known Oliver for so much longer than a month and a half.

That sounds so cliché, and typical, but it's true. It is.

I sighed, and lay back, lifting my hand to my mouth, and nibbling on one of my longer nails. I never usually bite my nails, but desperate times call for desperate measures. And who really needs long nails anyway? They just get broken, and that's just plain annoying.

"What is this?" I whispered to myself. Well, it isn't like anyone else was in the room to be able to hear me. So it was obviously to myself. "What is this Lilly? Get a hold of yourself."

I closed my eyes, and turned onto my stomach, crawling across to my pillow. I lay my head on it, and closed my eyes. Maybe this whole thing would make sense in the morning.

That was it... lack of sleep. I had three hours sleep last night, and so nothing would make sense to me. I'm overanalysing everything, because I'm so tired. So, so tired...

---

"Life's what you make it, so let's make it right," Miley sung, doing slightly less dancing than she used to. She was still Hannah Montana, and still as popular as ever. And even though she was seven years older, she found that her older songs were just as well received.

I stood in the sidelines, looking out at the stage. It amazed me how she managed to stand in front of all of those people and sing. Jake stood next to me, watching Miley, a smile on his face. It was times like these, when I saw how much he truly loved her.

My cell phone rung, and I picked it up, pressing it to my ear. Now that I was no longer Hannah's PA, I had to revert back to a disguise. Lola was back, and it felt like she'd never been away.

"Hello?" I asked, putting my finger in the other ear to try to drown out the concert noise.

"Lilly?" Oliver's voice frantically asked on the other end.

"Yes. Oliver? Is everything okay?"

He sighed. With relief, or possibly something else. "Do you know where the file on the Lambert case is? I looked in the filing cabinet, and I couldn't find it."

The Lambert case was huge. It could bring the company millions of dollars, and the file was the most important thing in the office right now. I had seen it at work only a few hours before. "I had it. Um... I remember seeing it... oh god. I have it at home. How stupid is that? I'll bring it to you."

"Where are you?" Oliver asked, becoming aware of the noise.

"A Hannah Montana concert," I said, motioning to Jake. "I'm leaving for a bit. Tell Hannah that I'll be back as soon as possible. I have to go to work for a little while."

Jake nodded.

"No, don't leave. I just wanted to work..." Oliver began.

"I'm walking out of the concert now," I interrupted. "So don't try to change my mind. I'll stop by my flat, and be with you in about fifteen minutes. Okay?"

Oliver sighed, but something told me he was smiling. "Okay. No changing your mind?"

"Absolutely not," I shook my head, as I left the noise behind, and stepped out of the stage door into the night. "Bye."

I slid the phone shut, and pulled off my Lola wig. Then I began walking to my flat humming a Hannah Montana song. They get in your head real easy, don't they?

**Okay. I was lying in bed last night, and I suddenly got an awesome idea for a sequel to Baby's Coming Back. So that will be planned out, and posted soon. **

**I've been writing this chapter for like, three days now, but I just want to write the next one. So hopefully that'll be up tomorrow, or at late, the next day. **


	15. Wonderwall

I sat down behind Lilly's desk and looked around at the mess that I'd made while looking for the file. I knew it wasn't her fault that she'd taken it home. She was probably distracted, and put the file in her bag accidentally. And the truth was that it was probably safer at her flat; safer than it would have been here anyway. I trusted her.

A beep cut into the silence, and told me that someone had just used the access code to get into the building. It hadn't taken her long to get here at all. Hannah Montana must have been playing somewhere close.

I honestly can't believe that she would take time out of a concert, to bring a file to me. I shouldn't even be in work, but I was bored, and knew that I had a lot of work to do on that case. There seemed to be no better time to get started on it, but when I showed up and couldn't find it, I called the only person that would know where it was. But I didn't want to ruin her evening...

The elevator doors opened, and she stepped out into the office. I raised my eyebrows as she entered; I hadn't been expecting her to be so dressed up. She was wearing a purple dress, with neon pink leggings. Her shoes were purple and she had pink bracelets lining her arms. Who dressed up like that to go to a Hannah Montana concert? And I'd never imagined Lilly dressed like it.

"Sorry," she gushed. "I have it. It was in my bag, all together and perfectly safe."

I smiled, still transfixed by the boldness of her outfit. "It's fine."

"Good," she sighed, pulling a stray desk chair forward, and sitting opposite me. "Now why were you here? Because I refuse to believe that you had no better offers on a Friday night."

"You can refuse to believe it all you want, but it's true," I said. It was. Well, Jack had invited me to his, but I know that there's better things to do than hang around with your brother, his wife and their kid. Working being one of them.

Lilly smiled. "You could've said. I happen to have a plus one on my backstage pass, and it never gets used. Like ever. So you totally could've tagged along. Unless, of course, you're not a fan of Hannah Montana."

"Um..." I faltered. I had been. Once. I'd been like, totally in love with her. But all that had changed, and I wasn't as big a fan anymore. I wouldn't have been able to tell you any of her recent singles.

"Well, we'll have to re-introduce you to her," Lilly grinned, as though she were reading my mind.

I looked at her. "Would I have to be dressed like you?"

Looking down at herself, Lilly blushed slightly. "Y'see, I'm not actually dressed as me. It's... complicated."

"Everything is complicated if you make it," I said, smiling at her.

She reached into her bag, and pulled out the folder, pushing it across the table toward me. I took it, and opened the drawer on the desk. Then I put the file in there and closed it again.

"I guess so," she sighed. Then she looked at me. "I suppose you want to know why it's complicated."

"I'm a lawyer. It's my inquisitive nature."

Lilly smiled. "That's just a fancy way of saying that you like to stick your nose in."

"It is, but who cares?"

"Okay... Oliver, can you keep a major secret? God, Miley will probably kill me for telling you this, but I trust you, and she knows that. And it isn't like you're going to tell anyone, is it? Don't worry, it's nothing major like that. She hasn't murdered anyone or anything, so she won't need a lawyer," Lilly rambled, waving her arms about as she spoke.

I watched as she spoke; watched her lips move. She had pink lipstick on, to match her pink/purple outfit, and it suited her. "I can keep a secret."

"Good." She breathed out heavily. "Okay, you have to promise to keep this a total secret, okay? You've already agreed. You know when I said that I know Hannah Montana?"

I nodded. "Yeah, you worked for her."

"Uh-huh, but I knew her way before that too. She was my best friend. I broke into her dressing room once, and found out something that totally changed my life. Hannah... was Miley," she finished dramatically.

Miley? As in, her flatmate Miley? Her 'sister' Miley? Miley who looked as normal as possible?

"Yeah, Miley," Lilly nodded. "I couldn't believe it either. But I got used to it, and that's how I met all the celebrities. Not through Jake. Through Hannah Montana. I got hired professionally though. She didn't hire me because I was her friend. In fact, her old PA hired me, so it wasn't biased. But before I was her PA, I had to adopt an identity. If people saw me, Lilly Truscott, backstage at a Hannah Montana concert, people might link me to Miley. Miley didn't want that. She really values her normal life. So I became Lola. And this is Lola. You're lucky that the wig is in the bag."

I processed all of this information. It made sense. All the conversations about Hannah Montana that she'd avoided. Yeah. It made sense. "I don't know... what colour was the wig?"

"Pink," she laughed. "I have a load of different ones in different colours. One for every mood."

I grinned at her. "Cool."

"What? So you're not even bothered about the fact that Miley is Hannah Montana? You're more concerned about what colour wigs I have?" Lilly teased.

I nodded. "Pretty much."

"Right. Well, I promised Miley that I'd get back. But, considering that you have no better offers at all, I'm going to have some company."

I followed her gaze as she got up. "What?"

"Come on," she looked at me, with pleading eyes. "You know you want to. Party. Celebrity party. I have a plus one invitation, and it needs to be used. Plus, you can meet Hannah Montana, even though technically you've met her. And you were just going to sit and look through a file. I mean, talk about boring! It's a Friday night, and we're young and hot," Lilly said. When she realised what she'd said, she blushed a little. "I mean... just come on."

How could I resist that? Turning off the desk light, I nodded. "Fine."

"Alright!" she punched the air, and turned back to the elevator. "Be prepared though. Paris Hilton can get nasty."

I laughed as I followed her into the elevator. Young and hot, huh? Definitely.

---

We got into the party easily. Lilly flashed a card, and the bouncer just moved aside for us. She grinned, and walked in, pulling the wig back over her head. It looked weird, but she seemed at ease with it on.

"Hannah!" she called, and Hannah Montana turned around.

"Lola! Where the heck did you go? Jake said that you'd had to go to work, and... oh. Hi."

I smiled at her. "Hey."

"Yeah, I, being me, took an important file home, and Oliver was looking for it, so I had to take it in. And obviously I wasn't going to let him sit doing work, when I had a plus one invite to a hot celebrity party," Lilly smiled. But I gotta remember to call her Lola.

"Obviously not," Hannah...Miley smiled, and held out a hand to me, as if we'd never met. "Hannah Montana."

I looked at Lilly, and she bit her lip. "Hannah, he knows."

"Um... what?" Miley asked, turning to Lilly. "How could he know?"

"I told him. Because I turned up at the office like this, and he wanted to know why. I trust him Hannah, and he isn't a gossip. Your secret is safe with him," Lilly assured.

Miley sighed, and turned back to me. "I guess there's nothing I can do about that now, is there? I trust Lola, and so if Lola trusts you, then I guess I trust you too. Welcome to the inner circle."

Lilly laughed, and smiled at Miley. "Thanks for understanding Hannah."

They are seriously good at the double identity thing. There doesn't seem to be a hesitation when they say each other's names.

"No problem," Miley said, and then looked around. "I'm going to go and find Jake, okay? You guys have fun."

Lilly turned to me, as Miley merged into the crowd. "Whoa that was lucky. She could've gone mad. She could've screamed at me. Although that's probably coming later. She can't make a scene here. Ah well. As she said, we can't do anything about it now."

"Do you want me to go? I might be making things worse," I said, pointing to the door.

"No!" she cried. "If you leave then she can yell at me! So no, you are staying here. Plus, I'm not letting you go back to work, because it's Friday, and this party is so much more fun."

I looked around, spotting various celebrities that lined the newspapers and tabloids daily. The music was amazingly loud, and the lights that flashed constantly would have given someone with epilepsy big problems. I guess it's a good thing that I don't have epilepsy then... "I guess I could stay..."

Lilly laughed, and smiled at me. "Okay, well they have the most amazing food here. I love it, and it's usually where you find me at these parties. Because I'm not cool among these celebrities."

"I find that hard to imagine," I said, motioning for her to lead the way.

We reached a table that was laden with food, and she turned to me. "They don't like me because I don't throw up my food after eating it. Not that Miley does that, but she's a real celebrity. They want to be seen being nice to her. Me? I'm just 'Hannah's friend', and so that means that they aren't entitled to be nice to me. I'm used to it really. And it doesn't matter. I don't want to be part of such a superficial group of people."

Then she picked up something that was chocolate covered, and put it in her mouth.

I smiled at her as she chewed, and she raised her eyebrows.

"What? Do I have chocolate on my face or something? That always happens, and it totally sucks. Eliminates all chance of Jesse McCartney talking to me, doesn't it?"

"Jesse McCartney?" I asked, and she grinned.

"Okay, so it was the first name that came into my head. So sue me."

I laughed. "I can arrange that."

"Sorry. Forgot who I was talking to," she smiled.

"Lollllaaaa!" An extremely annoying voice screeched, and Lilly rolled her eyes as a brunette rushed up to her. "Darlinggg, how are you? It feels like we haven't spoken for dayys."

Lilly forced a smile. "Hey Tracy. I'm fine..."

"Wasn't Hannah fabulous tonight?" the girl drawled, her voice getting more annoying with every word that she uttered.

"Absolutely," Lilly nodded, although she can't have seen much of the show. "She always is."

The girl nodded. "Tell me about it. And whooo is this?"

Uh-oh. She's turned to me. Do I lie? Do I tell the truth? Help me out here Lilly! Lola. Lilly. Lola. Whatever.

"This is a friend of mine. Uhh... Mike," she said, nodding at me; telling me to play along.

"Nice to meet you Mike," Tracy smiled, holding out her hand.

I took it warily, and faked a smile. "Hi."

"Anyway, I must dash off. I have to put the finishing touches to the party that I'm having next week. Will I be seeing you there?" Tracy drawled, turning back to Lilly.

Lilly shrugged. "No idea."

"Oh, okay. Nice meeting you Mike," Tracy said, and then with a flip of her hair, she was gone.

"Ugh," Lilly groaned, and picked up another item of food from the table. "I don't like her."

"Her voice was annoying."

"I've been hearing it since I was fourteen. She has _sinus problems_." Lilly gave a surprisingly good imitation of her. "Not the only problems she has."

I laughed. "You know, you'd make a pretty good actress."

"Really?" she asked, smiling. "Think I should give up my job and go into the trade?"

I could tell she was joking, so I nodded. "Absolutely. Prepare your Oscar speech."

Lilly put a hand to her chest, and put on a grateful expression. "I'd like to thank so many people for helping me get here. My mom and dad... Miley, Hannah Montana... and most of all Oliver, for telling me to pursue my talent."

"It's perfect," I grinned.

"Sure. But I'm not giving up my job any time soon, and definitely not to become an actress," Lilly smiled.

"Why not? I mean, don't you love the lifestyle it brings?" I said, an element of sarcasm in my voice.

She didn't notice, and looked around the room. "It's great. The parties, the fame, the money. Yeah, I'm not saying it would completely suck. But I look at Miley, and she's been living a double life for like, eight years. She wanted to be normal. To be able to go to school, and make friends that liked her for her. She didn't want to be stalked by photographers, or used by people to get to stardom. And I've been on the other side of things. We had a huge argument when she first told me that she was Hannah, because I called her 'Hannah' by mistake. I was so glad when we made up, because I didn't want to lose her. She was Miley to me, and always will be. So yeah, some aspects of it might be great, but then there's the parts that Miley tried to avoid."

"I was being sarcastic," I told her, but I was intrigued by her outlook.

"Oh." She looked up at me, biting her lip. "Well then..."

Another song came on, and I immediately recognised it.

_Today is gonna be the day that they're gonna throw it back to you..._

I felt the sudden urge to ask her to dance. It was the song that we'd talked to on the business trip, and in a way, it felt like our song. I know that sounds weird; two friends having a song, especially when it's usually couples that are into that whole thing. But it was.

"You want to dance?" The words were out of my mouth before I could stop them. "I mean..."

Lilly looked up at me and smiled. "Yeah, sure."

She grabbed my arm and pulled me out to where people were dancing. Then she put her arms around my neck, biting her lip nervously. Why should she be nervous? We're just two friends... dancing to a song... it's nothing weird at all.

_Backbeat the word is on the street that the fire in your heart is out_

_And I'm sure you've heard it all before but you never really had a doubt_

_I don't believe that anybody feels the way I do about you now..._

I got lost in the moment as Lilly smiled at me, and the song washed over us. I looked into her eyes, and they sparkled back. For a minute her gaze left mine, looking over my shoulder at whoever was standing there. Then she looked back.

I didn't look behind me until the song had finished, and saw that Miley was standing there, watching us. But, as soon as she saw me looking at her, she turned away, and pretended that she hadn't been watching at all.


	16. Truth

"What was that Lilly?" Miley demanded, as she shut the door behind us. We had literally just walked into the flat, and she was already asking vague questions.

I turned and looked at her, my eyebrows raised. "What?"

"Lilly, you leave me. I'm on stage, and I come off, and Jake's all 'Lilly had a work emergency'. And so I'm sat there, wondering where you are, and then you turn up with Oliver, and I find out that you've told him! You told him the biggest secret ever! I understand that you trust him, I seriously do, which is why I wasn't mad, but then I see you two standing in a corner, laughing. Next thing I know, you're out on the dance floor, slow dancing! You cannot tell me that there is nothing going on there, because I have an argument, and he may be a lawyer, but I have enough evidence to kick his ass!" Miley cried, throwing her arms up in the air.

What am I supposed to say? Do I deny it? Well, it isn't true. Obviously, we're just friends. He's my boss. I can't like him like that. I just can't. It can't happen, because work and relationships should never, ever mix. Ever.

"You still won't admit it." Miley's shoulders sagged, and she walked into the living room, sitting down on the couch.

I followed her, and stood in the door. "Won't admit what, Miley? That my boss is a friend? That I trust him? What exactly are you mad at me about?"

"Lilly..." she said, and trailed off, as if she were thinking of the way to say it. "Do you... like him?"

I looked at her. "No. I hate him. He's my sworn enemy, and I shall not rest until he's at the bottom of the social ladder."

"This is my problem Lilly! You avoid the question, with sarcasm, or the changing of the subject! What am I supposed to think?" Miley said, sitting up properly.

"I don't know Miley. Why don't you tell me what you think?" I said, folding my arms. "Why don't you tell me what you're supposed to think?"

She looked at me, and then looked away. "Sit down, Lilly."

Begrudgingly I did, sitting opposite her on the edge of the couch.

"I'm just saying, you guys seem to be really close. The first time I met him, you guys were standing in the hallway and you were a little too close for friends. Then you were laughing and joking, all flirty like. Next thing I know, you're going on a business trip, and you come home, and something obviously happened, but you won't tell me what it is. You're asking weird questions about me and Jake... but I dismiss it, because I think that if something were going on, you'd tell me. But then tonight, I come off stage, to hear Jake telling me that you got a call from him, and rushed off. You turn up with him at the party, and he knows everything, and then you're laughing, and looking at each other, and then... I see you dancing. The way you looked at him Lilly... it's the way I look at Jake. And the way he looked at you... that's definitely how Jake looks at me. So you can deny it, but I know that there is something there," Miley said, making eye contact with me only a few times throughout the speech.

Oh God. Oh my god, she's right. She's so right. She is. She's right. She so is. And I need to stop repeating that in my head.

I knew that there was something. Subconsciously. I did. Jeez...

I looked up at Miley, and she gasped. As if she hadn't actually known anyway.

"Lilly... do you like him?" she asked, looking me straight in the eye.

What could I say? I couldn't lie to her, nor to myself. Not anymore. Wow, this is going to make this so awkward on Monday. "Um..."

Miley bit her lip. "Lilly... do you love him?"

"No," I shook my head. "It isn't even near love yet. How could it be? I've known him for two months. No. No, I like him, is all."

"Why didn't you tell me?"

I looked over at her. "Because I didn't know. I didn't think... oh my gosh."

"What are you going to do?" Miley asked, being as unhelpful as it is possible to be.

"Nothing," I said, standing up. "Nothing at all."

I walked out of the living room before Miley could say anything else. But you can never underestimate Miley, because the next thing I know, she's following me out of the room.

"Lilly, he likes you. I can see it when he looks at you. You can't do nothing. Otherwise you'll both be in denial, like you both are now. Do it! Tell him!"

I turned around to face her just as I reached the door of my room. "I can't, Miley. I work with him. He's my boss. Everything is too complicated, and telling him that I might have a crush on him... that would make everything even more complicated. It's easy for you to say. You and Jake are obviously going to get married, and live happily ever after. You guys don't work together, and it doesn't matter anyway, because with the line of work that you guys are in, you never work together for long periods of time. So you can talk. I know you want me to tell him, but it's not going to happen, because it can't. Okay? So I'm going to bed, and I'm going to wake up tomorrow, and everything will go back to normal."

"Normal? What, pretending that you are just friends? Stealing secret glances, and being scared to talk in case you say something that you'll regret? Is that what normal is Lilly?" Miley asked.

"Yes. That is what normal is, and I'd appreciate it, if when I wake up tomorrow, you pretend you know nothing about this conversation," I said, pushing open my bedroom door.

Miley folds her arms. "Nothing good will come of pretending, Lilly."

"Nothing good can come of telling him either. So I guess I'm damned if I do, damned if I don't," I muttered, and walked into my room and closed the door, before she could say anything else.

---

"Hey."

I looked up from my book, and over at Oliver, who had just walked out to the courtyard.

It was lunch, and it being such a nice day, I decided to come out here and read. And eat. But I'd finished the eating, and was just sitting on one of the garden tables reading.

"Hi," I smiled. It had been relatively easy pretending that I didn't like him. I could talk to him easily, and everything felt like it did before. So Miley had been wrong.

"What're you doing out here?" Oliver asked, sitting down next to me.

I looked beside me. "I was reading. And eating. It was a nice day, and I could hardly sit inside. So I came out here."

"Awesome," Oliver said, and I looked back down at my book.

"Haven't you heard it's rude to read while someone is talking to you?" Oliver asked.

I glanced up at him. "Haven't you heard that it's rude to try to talk to someone while they're reading?"

"Nope. Must've not been taught that one."

I laughed, and closed the book. "There. Happy?"

"Very. So... what're you doing tonight?" Oliver asked, and I wasn't sure whether he actually wanted me to answer, or whether it was a rhetorical question.

Deciding to take a chance and tell him, I shrugged. "I was planning on sitting and watching Heroes, with a box of chocolates. Why?"

"Well, since you invited me to a party last Friday, I thought I'd invite you to a soccer game this Friday," Oliver said, smiling. "You might not like soccer though..."

"No, I do! I used to play it all the time, until skateboarding and surfing became more appealing. Miley used to think that I was insane," I said, smiling back. I did used to love soccer. "I was a total tomboy."

Oliver raised his eyebrows. "So, you want to come?"

"Well... Heroes was calling... but I guess I could get Miley to record it for me," I said, nodding.

"You could," Oliver grinned. "You'll have to put up with my brother and his wife though. His wife's brother is one of the players."

I smiled. "I'm sure that if I can put up with you, putting up with your brother won't be all that hard."

"So you'd think... but that isn't the case."

"I'll be the judge of that thanks," I smiled, and looked at my watch. "Anyway, I'd better get back inside."

Oliver nodded and got up. "So, you want me to pick you up tonight?"

I nodded, and told myself that this wasn't a date. It was a soccer game, and he'd invited me, because I invited him to the party last Friday. It's not a date at all. "Yeah, sure."

We got into the elevator, and pressed the button to go the third floor.

"Okay. About seven? The game starts at eight, so we don't want to be there for too long before. Jack will drive you insane," Oliver said, as the elevator rose.

I looked at him and smiled. "Sure. Seven it is."

The elevator doors opened, and we stepped out, Oliver smiling at me before he walked into his office. I sat down at my desk, and twirled around in the chair. I signed back onto the computer, making a mental note to call Miley later and tell her to set the DVD. Just in case she wasn't home before we left.

The computer was just starting up, when I realised that I didn't even know who we were going to see. Had Oliver told me that? Had I just not been listening?

The phone rang and I sighed, picked it up. I guess I'd find out who was playing when we got there. It wasn't like I really needed to know that anyway. Details like that were unimportant anyway.


	17. Soccer

I buzzed up to Lilly's flat at about ten past seven, and stood waiting for her to reply.

"Hello?"

Miley had obviously answered, because I'd know Lilly's voice a mile off, and that wasn't it.

"Hi. It's Oliver..." I said cautiously, unsure of what to say.

"Oh. Hey. Lilly's just leaving now. She'll be down in a few minutes."

"You set the DVD, right?" I heard Lilly call in the background.

Miley groaned. "Yes. I've already told you that. Heroes is being recorded, and shall be there for you to watch when you get back from the soccer game."

"Good. Bye Miley!" I heard Lilly call, and then the door slammed.

"Yeah, she'll be down in a few. Have fun at the soccer game. I mean, personally, I could never see the appeal of watching guys kick a ball around a court, but Lilly loves it," Miley said.

I smiled. "It's a pitch. And yeah, she said that she used to play."

"She did. She was really good," Miley said. "Is she not down yet?"

I looked into the building, to see Lilly running down the stairs, and smiled. "Yeah, she's just coming."

"Okay. Have fun!" Miley replied, and then put the receiver down.

Lilly pushed open the door, and grinned at me. "Hey."

"Hi," I smiled, and walked onto the street, sticking my hand out to get a cab. One stopped, and I opened the door, letting Lilly climb in first. Then I got in, and told the driver to drive to the stadium.

Lilly looked at me. "So, I suddenly realised that I have no idea who we're watching tonight. I can't even remember whether you told me or not, and if you did, I must have seriously spaced out."

"I didn't say. But it's LA Galaxy versus Colorado. I think." I tried to remember what Jack had said when he invited me.

"What, you weren't listening either?" Lilly laughed. "At least that'll be two of us who have no idea what's going on."

"Doesn't matter. Jack likes to do a running commentary. So we'll know soon enough," I warned her.

Lilly laughed. "Your brother sounds fun."

"He's not," I stated.

"Yeah, well some people say that knowing Hannah Montana is fun, but that wears off after a while," Lilly replied.

I smiled, and then looked out of the window. Lilly's flat can't have been far from the soccer ground, because there were already crowds. And traffic. It was going to take us ages to get through there.

"We should walk," Lilly said, almost as if she were reading my mind. "It's going to take too long to get there by car, and I happen to be excellent at making my way through crowds."

I nodded, and handed a ten dollar bill to the driver. Then I pulled the door open, and jumped out onto the pavement. Lilly had climbed over the seats, and joined me on the sidewalk. I closed the door, and turned to Lilly.

As soon as I turned away from the car, Lilly grabbed my arm, and began pulling me through the crowd. I had to hand it to her, she was very good at getting through people. Must be all the practice she's had with dodging the paparazzi.

I pulled myself to a halt, and she turned and looked at me. "What're you doing? We were getting through a lot of people."

"Yes, but we're in a box. So we go this way," I said, pointing to my right.

Lilly wrinkled her nose. "Oh. Right. Could've told me."

"I just did," I said, pulling her in the right direction. The crowds were considerably less here, and we got up to the gate easily. I showed the card that Jack had given me, and the gate was opened so that we could go through.

The soccer pitch was visible here; the grass amazingly green, and the players running up and down as they prepared.

"We go up the stairs," I said to Lilly, and motioned for her to lead the way.

She smiled at me, and grabbed my arm, pulling me up the stairs. If she continues pulling me everywhere, my arm's gonna be pulled out of it's socket.

We reached the top of the stairs, and looked down the hallway.

"Oliver!" A loud yell came from the end of the corridor, and I turned to see Jack walking toward us, Carter in his arms. Lilly dropped her hand from my arm. "Glad you could make it bro!"

"Uncle Ollie!" Carter cried, clapping his hands.

I grinned at him, and then at my brother. "Jack, this is Lilly. Lilly, this is Jack."

"Hey," Lilly smiled.

Jack looked at me, and raised his eyebrows. "Carter, why don't you go and show Lilly where we sit. Mom'll be there. I'll be along in a minute."

"You okay with that?" I turned to Lilly, and she nodded.

Jack put Carter down, and he ran over to Lilly. "Come on Liwwy. I'll show you the soccer men."

Lilly grinned at my nephew, and let him lead her to the box, listening to him talking animatedly all the way.

"So... care to explain?" Jack asked.

I looked at him. "Care to explain what?"

"Why you're suddenly bringing your PA to soccer games with you," Jack said, as we began to walk up the corridor slowly.

"Because, she invited me to a party last week, and I felt that I should return the favor. Plus, we're friends. What, is it a crime to hang out with friends now?" I defended.

Jack raised his eyebrows. "Do friends hold hands like you guys were?"

"We weren't holding hands. She pulled me up the stairs, and her hand was on my arm," I rolled my eyes.

"Whatever. She was the one you walked home in the rain, right?" Jack asked, walking as slow as it is possible to walk.

I sighed. "Yes."

"And she invited you to a party?"

"Yes."

"Dude, and you're just friends?"

We reached the door to the box, and I looked in, to find Lilly playing some sort of game with Carter. She was so good with him, and looked completely at ease. After a few seconds, she looked up, and saw me. Quickly sticking her tongue out, she grinned at me, and then turned her attention back to Carter.

"Hey Oliver," Rachel looked up, noticing Lilly's tongue slip, and smiled at me.

I smiled back. "Hi."

I walked into the room, taking a seat next to Lilly. She turned around, and smiled at me, but then Carter said something, and she looked at him. I looked out at the pitch, but not before I noticed the look that passed from Jack to Rachel. And I knew what both of them were thinking.

---

"Who are we rooting for again?" Lilly asked me, halfway through the first half. Nobody had scored a goal yet; there had been some near misses though.

"Uhh... the team in blue," I said, taking my eyes from the game, and connecting them with hers.

"Ah, okay, just checking, because I don't want your brother to completely hate me because I'm cheering the wrong team."

I laughed. "He's probably too engrossed in the game to notice what team your cheering. You could probably tell him anything right now, and when the half time whistle goes, he won't know what you said at all."

"Miley is so like that. She'll be watching MTV or something, and you'll be having this huge conversation with her, and when the commercials come on, you find out that she hasn't been listening, and that you've basically been talking to yourself," Lilly smiled.

I rolled my eyes just thinking about it. "It's annoying beyond belief, right? Sometimes I just say anything for the sake of it, just to see if he'll hear me. He never does. Ever."

"Maybe he's trying to tell you something," Lilly smirked, but after a few seconds started to laugh.

I grinned and turned back to the soccer game. One of the players in blue had the ball, and was worming his way past the defenders of the other team. He was almost at the goal; you could see the goalkeeper tense up, ready to try and catch the attempt to score. Passing it to a player on his right, the blue team continued to look threatening, and defenders were trying to tackle the ball off them...

The whistle blew. One of the blue players was on the floor; the ball had been taken from clean under his feet.

"Penalty!" Jack stood up and yelled, causing a few of the spectators in front of him to jump.

Lilly let out a small laugh, and then obviously tried to suppress the rest of it. I looked at her, and she shrugged, her tongue in her cheek. "I guess he really does take it seriously."

I glanced at my brother, who was yelling furiously at nobody in particular. "Like you wouldn't believe."

---

The game finished with LA Galaxy winning by two goals to one. Jack was pleased, as were Carter and Rachel. I wasn't really bothered about the outcome, and nor was Lilly, but we weren't about to tell my brother that. He might have killed me.

We sat back in the box, Carter playing with cars on the floor. Jack went to get drinks and Rachel got talking with one of the people in a box next door. I turned to Lilly, and smiled at her.

"We don't have to stay here you know. Jack can be scary at the best of times, and you might just want to go home and watch Heroes..."

She shook her head. "No, I'm fine. Heroes will still be there when I get home, and if I just rushed off now it might be rude."

"It wouldn't be," I said, but was sort of glad that she'd decided to stay. Jack wouldn't question me while she was here, and so the longer she stayed, the longer the questioning was put off.

Jack came back in, and Rachel followed. "That was an amazing game, wasn't it Oliver?"

"It was okay," I shrugged, trying to keep my gaze off of Lilly.

Jack raised his eyebrows. "Ah. I forgot. You weren't watching much of the game, were you?"

I rolled my eyes, choosing to ignore this little quip at me bringing Lilly here.

"So Lilly, I didn't know what you wanted to drink, so I just got you anything and hoped that it'd be alright," Jack said, handing Lilly a cup.

"Eh, I'll drink anything, so I'm sure it'll be fine," Lilly smiled back.

Jack turned to me, and gave me a look. Then he walked over, holding a drink in his hand. "I got you this."

"Thanks," I muttered, not wanting to get into conversation. But this is Jack.

He leaned forward, pretending to get something from behind me. "She's a keeper," he said under his breath.

"How many times do I have to tell you - " I began, whispering back.

Jack rolled his eyes, and picked up a programme from behind me. "I know, I know. You can say it all you want, but that doesn't mean I'm going to believe you."

---

I offered to walk Lilly home after we left. Jack had been his usual un-subtle self, and I was worried that she might suspect that I thought of her as more than an employee. So far, I didn't think she thought that. Or if she did, she was good at hiding it.

"Okay, weird question number three," Lilly said. We'd been playing 'weird question', which was exactly as it sounded. We asked each other weird questions, and answered them honestly. "Do you... believe in ghosts?"

I laughed. "No. You?"

"Yes," she smiled. "I swear I saw one when I was little. Not that I can really remember it."

"Alright then," I said. We'd promised not to question each other's beliefs, because chances were, they had no explanation. "Number 4. Do you... believe in love at first sight?"

I don't know what made me ask it. As soon as the words were out of my mouth, I wanted to take them back. But I couldn't, so I just had to await her reply.

"I didn't," she said, after hesitating for a bit. "I mean, Miley totally believes in it. Ironically, she hated Jake at first sight, so I'm not sure how she backs that up, but I always thought it was absolute rubbish. But she keeps telling me that I need to open up my mind... so I guess I sort of do now... do you?"

What to say? Do I say yes; I liked you from the minute you walked through my door? Or no?

"Um... maybe. I don't know. I guess I'll have to wait until it happens, won't I?" I said, trying to be as vague as possible.

And, was it my imagination, or did a fleeting look of disappointment flash across her face as I said that? I shrugged it off, reckoning that it was just me. Or it was the streetlamp light, or a car headlight or something.

"Anyway, this is me," she said, clearing her throat. "Um... I'll see you on Monday?"

I nodded, looking up at her building. The lights were on in almost every window, and I tried to remember which one was hers. I failed.

"Okay. Well... thanks for tonight. It was fun," she smiled, and then pressed the buzzer.

"No problem..." I said, wondering what to do now. Hug her... shake her hand... what?

Figuring out my dilemma for me, Lilly stepped forward and hugged me, as the buzzer crackled, and Miley's voice spoke from it.

"Hello?"

"It's Lilly," Lilly said, stepping back from the hug, and getting ready to push open the door.

"Mkay," Miley said, and with one last fleeting glance, Lilly pushed on the door, and walked inside, leaving me standing outside the building.

She hugged me. And then just left.

A car horn jerked me from my thoughts, and I turned to find Jack's car parked next to me.

"Get in," Jack said.

I frowned. "How did you find me?"

"We've been following you. Love at first sight? What the heck was that all about?" Jack said, a smirk playing on his face.

I groaned, and shook my head. "I'll hail a cab."

"No you won't," Jack shook his head adamantly. "You're getting in. And we're talking about this Lilly girl."

I hate my brother.

**Okay, so I have 9 days until I go on holiday for two weeks. And I'm trying to finish this before I go, so that you don't have to wait for long. But if I feel like it's getting too rushed, I'll stop, because I'd rather leave you waiting for two weeks, than have you read a crappy end... and you might feel like that too. **

**So yeah. Baby's Coming Back sequel should be up when I get back from Italy. **


	18. Rose

I let myself into the apartment, and was immediately pounced on by Miley.

"Lilly! What happened? Anything? Does he like you? Does he know you like him? Who won? Oh, like I care about that. Give me all the details, and if you leave anything out... don't leave anything out."

I wrinkled my nose, and opened up the shoe cupboard, sliding off my shoes and kicking them inside. Miley looked at me with a slight hint of disgust - she hates people messing up her shoe closet - but didn't say anything. If she brought it up, she'd be changing the subject, and she wanted to stay on the same subject. So that I had no excuse to stop talking about it.

"So?" she began, gesturing for me to begin my story. Not that I had a story. It had been exactly as I'd expected it to be: like two friends going to a soccer game. Apart from the walk home. That had been slightly unusual. I mean, what was that 'do you believe in love at first sight' thing?

It was just a question. I don't know why I'm trying to make it something else. Why would it be anything else? We were playing a game where we asked each other questions, and that was one of the questions. No big deal.

I shrugged. "Not much to tell."

"Well, whatever there is to tell, you can tell me," Miley begged. "If there was a few secret glances, a few vague comments... whatever happened, I want to know. Even if there were none of those things, I still want to know. Because you know that I am very good at spotting signs that you can't see."

"Right," I said. "Well, can I get a drink first, or am I not allowed that?"

Miley sighed, but stepped aside so that I could go into the kitchen. I rolled my eyes, and walked past her, pulling open the fridge, and taking out a can of soda. Popping the top on it, I took a drink, and turned around to face Miley, who was standing in front of me expectantly. Knowing that I'd never be able to get out of it, I sighed and walked into the living room, Miley following me like a dog. Then I sat on the couch, and looked at my friend. "What do you want to know?"

"Everything!" Miley squealed, sitting down opposite me. "Absolutely everything. Begin, from the beginning, and don't stop until you get to the part where you walked through the door."

I raised my eyebrows, but smiled at her. "Right, well I went downstairs to find him standing at the door. Obviously you'd been talking to him, so you knew that. We got a cab to the soccer ground. Talked about soccer, and stuff. Then we got out and walked, because there was no way that the cab was ever going to get through all the traffic. There were so many people there; the grounds were seriously crowded. So... I held onto his arm to make sure that we didn't get separated, because I had no idea where to go, and if I got lost, I was doomed."

Miley squealed. "And he let you hold his hand?"

"I told you. It was his arm, not his hand. And I didn't do it because I wanted to give him a hint, I did it because I didn't want to get lost," I said, knowing that it wouldn't be the last time that I had to explain that.

"Yeah, yeah. Whatever you say Lilly. So... what happened next?" Miley pressed on, obviously making mental notes for later. See, after I'd finished explaining, she'd probably go back to things she wanted to know about. I know her too well.

I rolled my eyes, and sighed, getting ready to talk again. It was going to be a very long night.

---

_Any new news? You'd tell me straight away, right?_

_-Miley_

I rolled my eyes at the e-mail, and pressed reply. Typing quickly, I sent a message to her, telling her that I would definitely tell her straight away, and that she shouldn't be expecting anything to happen. Then I went back to the file that I was filling out.

Almost instantly I got a reply.

_I know I shouldn't, because neither you nor Oliver seem to be able to act upon your feelings. From what you told me the other night, he obviously has some sort of feelings toward you, and they're not the friendly kind. So I shall keep asking, because if nothing happens soon, I might have to take things into my own hands._

_-Miley_

Laughing slightly, I replied, saying that she would do nothing of the sort, and that she should be getting back to doing whatever it is she's doing when I'm at work. Then I minimized the e-mail window, and looked back at the file.

"So, what're you up to this weekend?" Rose, the PA of another lawyer in the office asked.

I looked over at her from my computer, and resisted the urge to roll my eyes. How she got employed, I have no idea. She was sat at her desk, her feet up on the wood and her nail file scrubbing across the tips of her fingernails. This wasn't a job to her; it was an opportunity to sort out her nails, talk to her friends on the phone for free and relax. "I'm going to Malibu."

"Oh really?" Rose said, feigning interest. "What takes you to there?"

"My parents live there. I grew up there. Me and my friend are going back to see our folks," I said, turning back to the computer. I'd slowly gained the ability to type and talk at the same time, which was an accomplishment that I was proud of.

Rose took her feet off of the table, and looked at me. "You actually want to go and see your parents?"

"Yes," I said, wrinkling my nose. "Why wouldn't I?"

She shrugged. "I don't know. In my experience parents are nothing but trouble, and once you're away from them you should just stay away."

How can anyone feel that about their parents? My parents are great. Well... I mean, they embarrassed me, and annoyed me to no end when I was a teenager, but I never doubted that they wanted the best for me.

"Well whatever," Rose said, waving a hand as if she didn't care. "I heard that you and Oliver went to a soccer game the other day. You have fun?"

I looked at her. Was she implying something, in that sickly sweet tone of hers? "I guess so. It was a soccer game. The team that I wanted to win, won. So it was okay."

"So nothing else is going on between you and Oliver?" Rose asked. Wow. She's even less subtle than Miley. If that's possible.

I shook my head. "Nope. We're friends. Finished."

"So nothing else is happening?" Rose asked, leaning forward as though this were the sort of gossip that she lived for.

"No. Why, did you expect something else?" I replied, saving my file, and turning to her.

She shook her head innocently. "Of course not. Hi Oliver."

I spun around to see Oliver standing in his doorway looking at me. Subconsciously I smiled back. "You need something?"

"Wondered if you wanted to catch lunch," Oliver shrugged, as though every lawyer went out with their PA to lunch.

I nodded, and closed the file on my computer. Figuring that I could leave myself logged in, I pushed the chair away from the table, and picked up my bag. "Where are we going?"

"Starbucks?" Oliver asked, as we walked along to the elevator.

"Sure," I smiled, and then turned to Rose. "Um... hey. If the phone rings, would you answer it and tell them that we're not available. I promise that I'll cover for you if you ever need it."

Rose smirked and nodded. "As long as you remember that promise."

"I will. Thank you!" I cried, and stepped into the elevator.

She held her hand up in a slight wave. "Have a lot of fun."

The elevator doors closed, and I felt a slight pang of mistrust. Just for a second. She would never accept to do something for me unless something was in it for her. And even though I said that I'd cover for her, there has to be something more. Because she's just that sort of person.

But as I looked at Oliver, all thought of Rose vanished from my mind, and I smiled.


	19. Strange Note

"You think you'd have learnt by now," Lilly laughed, pushing open the door to the building. "Hot coffee plus you, equals burnt tongue."

I rolled my eyes. "I thought I'd left it long enough. I didn't know that it took that long to cool down."

"Oliver, you took a drink as soon as we'd walked out of the door. Which was only about five seconds after it had come out of the coffee machine. The air doesn't cool anything down that fast," Lilly said, pressing the button for the elevator. It came almost instantly, and we stepped inside. "Nor is it that cold outside."

"Well how was I supposed to know that?"

Lilly looked up at me, her eyebrows raised and a look of amusement on her face. "Um... you walked to Starbucks. Without a coat on. And never once complained that you were cold. I think that that's a slight hint, don't you?"

"No." I shook my head, even though I knew she was right. Well I'm hardly going to admit that I'm wrong, am I?

She laughed as the elevator doors opened, revealing the office. The other PA looked at us, sat exactly where she had been when she left, a smirk on her face. I raised my eyebrows at her, and then turned to Lilly. "Jack said he'd call this afternoon, so if he does can you put him through?"

Lilly nodded, and sat back down at her desk. "Will do."

As I walked into my office, she gave me a slight wave and then turned back to the computer. Walking across to my desk, I noticed that a pile of papers that hadn't originally been there, was now sitting in the middle. I sat down in the chair, and looked at the paper. My stomach flipped over as I saw what was written there:

_Have fun with Lilly?_

To many people it would appear nothing, but there was something about it. Why would someone leave a note asking that? Surely they'd just walk right up to me and ask it. And who wrote it? It wasn't in a handwriting that I recognised; not that I knew what a lot of people's handwriting looked like. Plus, there was something else in it. Like the person who wrote it was implying something. Implying something that I didn't want anyone at work to be implying.

The phone beside me buzzed, making me jump. I tore my eyes away from the note, and picked it up.

"Oliver, your brother's on the phone," Lilly said. "Line 1."

I thanked her, and pressed number one on the phone. Then I looked back down at the note, waiting for the phone to put me through to Jack.

"Hey bro," Jack said, sounding very happy. "How's it going?"

Deciding not to tell him about the note that was lying on my desk, I looked out through the window. "Fine."

"What about Lilly?" Jack asked, getting straight to the point of his phone call. I'd managed to resist on Friday night. Well, sort of. He'd eventually tricked me into telling him that I _maybe _liked Lilly as more than a friend, because he's evil.

"She's fine too. Why?" I asked, watching as Lilly got up and talked to the other PA for a second, before running across to the elevator. I wondered where she was going, but didn't concentrate on that for long. Jack was still talking. I spun my chair around, so that my back was to the window. If I couldn't catch anyone's eye, then they'd know that I was having a private conversation, and so wouldn't disturb me. That was my theory anyway.

"Come on, Oliver. You can no longer deny it. The other night, you fully admitted that you have some sort of feelings toward her, and so you may as well give up the charade. It's not like I'm going to tell her. Personally, I think you should tell her, because she seemed like a great girl, and you guys seemed to get along really well. In fact, if I'm being completely honest, I'd say that if you asked her out, she'd say yes, because there was something about the way she was looking at you on Friday - " Jack told me.

I sighed. "Jack, I'm not asking her out. Nothing is going to come of this thing, and so if I forget about it, we'll be just fine."

"No, Oliver. No you won't. Because it's never that easy. The longer you wait, the more intense your feelings will get. And then it'll become awkward between you guys. She might decide that she can't work in a awkward environment, and then she might walk out of your life forever, leaving you to regret not saying something while you had the chance," Jack said.

I laughed. "Wild imagination much?"

"I'm being serious."

"Well there's a change."

Jack sighed exasperatedly. "Oliver, please, at least think about it."

"Fine," I said, knowing that I'd do no such thing. "Okay. Thought about it. It's not going to happen."

"You are so stubborn, do you know that? Whatever Oliver. At least you're now admitting that you like her, as opposed to deny, deny, deny," Jack said, sounding slightly relieved about that.

"When did I admit that I liked her?" I asked, trying to remember everything that I'd said in the last five minutes of conversation.

Jack laughed. "About twice in the last few minutes. And there is no point in denying it now Oliver, because I won't believe you."

I couldn't think of anything that might change his mind, so I just let out a frustrated sigh of resignation. "Fine. I admit it. I like her, okay?"

"I knew it! And I can't believe you fell for that. You didn't really admit it. Not outright anyway. Just hinted at it. But still, I knew it."

This is why I hate my brother. "I hate you."

"No, you don't," Jack said, and he laughed.

A weird noise attracted my attention. It was quiet, but it sounded like somebody hanging up. But Jack was still laughing, so it obviously wasn't him. Had somebody else been listening in on our conversation? I looked behind me, out at the window, but Lilly was still nowhere to be seen, and that annoying girl was sat at her desk, the smirk even more prominent on her face. I shook my head. The noise I'd heard was a figment of my imagination. It hadn't actually happened, I'd just imagined it.

"And I'll keep bugging you about it until you ask her out. And when you guys are married and have a few dozen kids you'll be thanking me," Jack said, sounding ecstatic.

I rolled my eyes. "I'm hanging up now."

"You'll be thanking me!" Jack shouted, and I turned around and put the phone down before he could say anything else that I might find amazingly annoying.

Something moving outside caught my attention, and I saw Lilly walking out of the elevator and sit back down in her seat. She caught my eye and smiled, mouthing 'sorry' through the glass. I smiled and shrugged, to show that it was no big deal. It wasn't. She wouldn't have rushed off, unless it was something important.

Looking back down at my desk, the note caught my eye. I narrowed my eye, wanting to know who put it there. Then I sighed, and picked up the note. I read it once more, and then screwed it up, throwing it across the room and watching as it fell straight into the wastepaper bin.

**Hmm... you might get another update tonight. Depends if I write quickly. But yeah, hope you like this one. :D**


	20. Only Option

I sat back down at the desk, sighing. Rose had said that a parcel had come for Oliver, so I went down to get it. It was hardly a big parcel, and I don't know why they didn't just leave it up here. It isn't big enough to have to be signed for, but whatever.

Oliver had finished his phone call, and I smiled at him through the glass that separated his office from my desk. He smiled back, which gave me the impression that he'd noticed my absence, but didn't really care. Or didn't mind. Because he might have cared. But that's the same as minding. Isn't it? Oh, whatever.

"You got it then?" Rose smirked. I really don't like her. Doesn't she have any work to do at all? Or does she just sit there and get paid for it?

I nodded. Why bother starting a conversation, when I didn't really want to talk to the woman? I looked back at my computer, and noticed that my e-mail inbox was still open. Must've forgotten to close it down. I clicked on the icon, so that I could see if I'd gotten any new e-mails.

Miley's name was at the top of the list. I'd had three e-mails from her today. Three. Something about that didn't seem right. Okay, there'd been one asking if there'd been any news. And then there'd been a reply, telling me that if I didn't do anything, she'd get involved. So that was two. But what was this third one? I couldn't remember reading a third one, yet it was marked as 'read'. I shook my head. I must be losing it. Who else could've read it? I clicked on it, thinking that I'd read the first few lines, and it would all come flooding back.

_You can bet your bottom dollar that if you two are refusing to do anything about it, I will. Because I've had enough of you showing up to Hannah concerts alone. I mean, people are going to think that Hannah Montana is friends with this freaky girl, who can't get a boyfriend. And we can't have that, can we? I mean, not only do I have a reputation to uphold, so do you. So really I'm looking out for you. _

_Okay, all that was nonsense. I couldn't care less if you showed up to the concert alone, as long as you're happy doing so. But I know that you'd be happier if you were with him, so if you aren't willing to make magic happen, I shall have to do it for you. And okay, you might be mad at me to begin with, but when you guys are living happily ever after (which I know you will) you'll be thanking me, because without my magic, you guys would've never plucked up the courage to do anything. Seriously, you're about as useless as Uncle Earl after he's had seven helpings of Christmas dinner._

_Anyway... if anything comes up. Anything. Because you know how good I am at reading signs, and I swear, that boy is sending more signs your way than Cupid sends in a day. Mkay?_

_Keep me updated!_

_-Miley_

Usually I would've laughed at such an e-mail, but laughing was the last thing I wanted to do. I was _sure _that I hadn't read that e-mail. So sure. It wasn't the kind of e-mail anyone would forget in a hurry.

Yet... who would read my e-mails? What sort of person would you have to be, to walk over to somebody else's computer, and rift through their private e-mails, just for fun? Or whatever reason they had for doing it.

The answer dawned on me in a matter of seconds, and I looked across the room, to where Rose was pretending to be immersed in a document of her own. She was forgetting, however, that she never did any work. So the fact that she was doing work now... well that was highly suspicious. I watched her for a few minutes, but she didn't look at me. Pushing her to the back of my mind, I sighed, and looked down at my desk. If she'd only read that e-mail, she'd have no idea who Miley was talking about. If she'd read others... well I didn't even want to think about that one.

Lying on top of my other work, a piece of paper caught my eye. Words were etched into the middle, and I leaned forward to read them.

_Feel like acting upon your feelings yet, Lilly?_

I swear, my heart stopped. Well, there was no question about it anymore, was there? Rose had read the e-mails, and she'd read the ones that had Oliver's name in them... which meant that she had a pretty good idea that I had feelings toward him that weren't regular in a work relationship.

There was only one thing I could think of doing: talking to Miley. Trying not to look worried or unordinary, I got up, picked up the parcel that I'd gone and collected, and walked into Oliver's office, where he was looking oddly distracted. I cleared my throat, and he looked up at me quickly, wiping whatever emotion he had been feeling from off of his face.

"Hi," he said, as though he could think of nothing else to say.

I walked over to his desk quickly. "Um... this came for you. That's why I went downstairs... Rose couldn't be bothered to put it on my desk, so she told them to lave it downstairs. And make more work for me in the process. I swear, that girl is evil." I forced a laugh, trying not to think of how evil that girl actually was.

"Right," Oliver said, smiling briefly. Then he took the small package out of my hands, and looked at it, a confused expression on his face. "It doesn't have an address on it."

I shrugged. "I know. I guess someone dropped it in, but they didn't tell me who. Rose wouldn't tell me either, but I didn't expect anything less. Um... do you need me for the rest of the day?"

"You need to be somewhere?" Oliver asked, putting the parcel down on his desk. He didn't say it patronisingly, more like he was slightly concerned.

"Sort of..." I said, knowing how lame I sounded. But what else could I do? I needed to be away from Rose, and Miley was at home. She'd know what to do. Not that she had experience in this sort of thing, but she'd be able to think up a really good plan.

Oliver looked at me for a second, and I knew that he knew that there was more to the story. But, because he's amazingly nice, he chose not to pursue it, and smiled at me. "You can go. I probably won't be hanging around much longer either, because it's quiet today."

"Thank you," I said, relieved. Noticing a pile of papers on his desk, I motioned to them. "Want me to do something with them?"

Oliver had looked back down at the parcel, and looked back up at me when I said this. "Oh. They can go in the bin."

"Okay, I'll put them in," I said, and picked them up. The look on his face told me that I really didn't have to; that he wasn't lazy enough to get other people to put his rubbish in the trash, but I shook my head. It was the least I could do. He wasn't asking what was wrong, and he was letting me off early. A walk to the trash can - which is on my way out of the room - is hardly challenging.

He looked back down at the parcel, and I walked over to the trash can, making to drop the papers in. Then I saw a crumpled piece of paper. Most of what was written on it was concealed, but I saw my name. My name. Why would Oliver have something in his trash can with my name on it?

Making an impulse decision, I picked out the paper that was in there, and dropped the pile in my hand into the bin. Then I pocketed the crumpled paper, and turned to Oliver. "I'll see you tomorrow?"

He nodded, and turned the package over, pulling it open. I turned and left the room before he managed to get it open.

Rose looked up at me as I logged off my computer and picked up my bag. "Leaving so soon?"

"Oliver said that I may as well go home. It's quiet today. Sorry that you didn't get the same luck," I smiled, pretending that I had no idea what her evil mind had done.

I turned off the light, and walked over to the elevator before she could say anything else. Frankly, I didn't want to hear what she had to say.

Stepping into the lift, I pressed the button that would take me down to the street, and let out a sigh.

---

"Okay, tell me once more. What exactly happened?" Miley asked, remaining incredibly calm.

I rolled my eyes. I'd already told her what had happened twice, and now she expected me to retell the story again? "Basically, I went out to lunch with Oliver, left my computer logged on, she read my e-mails and now knows that I love Oliver, and then she left me a note saying that she knew. Then I went in to ask Oliver to have the rest of the day off, because I had to speak to you, and I found the note that you are holding in your hands in his trash can."

Miley stared at me in shock. I wrinkled my nose, and waved my hand in front of her face. "What are you staring at? I'd just told you this story, so you're amazingly behind if you're only just registering shock."

"No. No, that's not it. You just said..." Miley said, her eyes wide. "You just sat there and said that you love Oliver."

"I did what now?" I cried, jumping up.

"You just said that you love Oliver! You just said: 'she read my e-mails and now knows that I love Oliver!'" Miley squealed, her face breaking out into a huge grin.

What? I didn't. No. I would've known if I'd said that. I didn't. "No I didn't. I said I like Oliver. I know they start and end with the same letter, but they really mean different things."

"No! You just said: 'I love Oliver.'"

"You love Oliver? I thought you loved Jake." This might work. Confusing her.

"I do love Jake. You love Oliver."

I wrinkled my nose. "I do?"

"Yes."

"Really?"

"Uh-huh," Miley nodded, a smirk appearing on her face.

Damn it. Didn't work. "No, I don't."

"Yes, you do. You just said it. And I didn't even have to trick you to get you to say it. You said it of your own accord, which makes it even more true!" Miley clapped her hands excitedly, as though I'd just announced my engagement.

I opened and closed my mouth a few times, trying to think of a good response. When no decent reply came, I sunk down onto the couch again, and closed my eyes in resignation.

"And you didn't even put up a good fight! How long did you deny it for? About two seconds! Oh my gosh, Lilly. This is huge! You love him? Are you sure? You said that you didn't two weeks ago. But I guess a lot can change in two weeks. Obviously."

"Miley, can we please focus on the problem at hand. Which is that the evil vindictive personal assistant who works across from me knows that I _like_ Oliver, and I wouldn't put it past her to do something evil with that information!" I hissed, sitting up and opening my eyes.

Miley nodded, but it was clear that she still wanted to talk about the fact that I 'loved' Oliver. After thinking for a minute, she began speaking. "Well, from what this note says, she's suspected it for a while. And she obviously thinks that Oliver has a thing for you too, because she sent him one - "

But do I? Love Oliver? I mean, I said it, but it could've been a slip of the tongue, right?

" - and he was obviously unsure about what to do, because he threw the note away - "

But if it were a slip of the tongue, why didn't I notice it? Usually, when you say a word that's wrong, you go back and correct it. I spouted it out like there was never any doubt about me saying it.

" - you think she'd use a different handwriting, wouldn't you? I mean, imagine if Oliver had happened to come across something she'd written - "

But I can't love Oliver. I've barely known him. I mean, he makes me laugh. And I had an amazing night on Friday. And okay, so I felt something weird when I grabbed his hand to pull him through the crowds. But that could've been anything.

" - it really is all a bit stupid. She can't be that imaginative, can she, doing something like this - "

Yet... when he asked me if I believed in love at first sight... I never have. Never. It all seemed stupid. How can you know that you love someone the first time you see them. But when he asked me that, I felt compelled to say yes. Why? I don't know. I just know that he made me believe it. And there could be only once explanation. Maybe I'd fallen in love with him when I first saw him.

" - I think that we can stop her telling everyone. I mean, what's in it for her. She doesn't want a promotion, because she doesn't do any work to begin with. Getting promoted would mean more work - "

How could I have though? I'd have known. I'd have known if I'd fallen in love with him the very first time I saw him. But maybe that isn't what it means. Maybe, you do fall in love with someone at first sight, yet you don't realise it. Maybe it's once you've gotten to know them that you realise. Maybe once you've gotten to know them, you realise that ever since you first saw them, you've felt a connection with them.

" - I think that maybe you should talk to Oliver - "

I can't see any way out of it. He makes me laugh, and when I'm with him I feel like... like I never need to be with anyone else again. God. Maybe I do love him.

"Lilly! You're not listening to me, are you?" Miley shouted, and I turned to look at her.

"Sorry."

"I was saying... that maybe this is what you need," Miley said, quietly.

I raised my eyebrows. "What?"

"Look, we both know that you weren't going to own up to loving your boss any time soon. And Oliver probably feels the same way. You're confused, and I bet he is too, so neither of you were going to do anything. But now, with the threat of how you feel getting spilled... well maybe you should tell him. Before he finds out through Rose, or whoever she's going to go and tell. It would be best. And if this brother of his has any sense, he'd tell Oliver this too," Miley said. She reminded me of a psychiatrist, and I was her mental patient.

"He doesn't know that it's her," I muttered, processing her idea.

"So what? He knows that someone knows. And he also knows that gossip is the way that most people survive around here. So he should be able to put two and two together. He's a lawyer, so he obviously isn't stupid. I know that this probably isn't what you want to hear, but I think it's one of the only ways."

I sighed. She was right. Miley usually was. "But..."

"I know you don't want to. But I'm sure he feels the same way. And, if he doesn't, then tell me, and I'll kick his ass for you," Miley smiled at me.

Well, it's all very well and good for her to smile. She doesn't have to do... this. She doesn't have to do one of the things that terrifies her the most. She doesn't have to stand in front of the guy she loves (because I may as well admit it, considering that Miley won't let me forget it) and tell him that she loves him, and risk him laughing at her.

God.

"Do I have to?" I whined at Miley, sounding like a little kid again.

She laughed at me, and stood up. "Yes. But it'll be over before you know it."

"I won't be counting on that," I muttered, as she pulled me up and hugged me. "When should I tell him?"

Miley shrugged. "That's up to you. But I'd say as soon as possible. And preferably before we leave for Malibu tomorrow. Because while you may be in a different city, you'll still have the weight on your shoulders, and I'd prefer you to be worry-free."

Tomorrow. I have to tell him tomorrow?

"Get it over with," Miley reassured me, as though she could read my mind.

I sighed, nodded and then left the room, walking into my bedroom and closing the door. Miley didn't follow me.

Tell him tomorrow... I thought, as I sat on my bed. Well, sooner rather than later, right?

**Okay... so I have 5 days before I go to Italy. I should have 5 chapters left (connection) but there's room for one more that I'm thinking about having. But yeah, enjoy this one. Might have two chapters up tomorrow. Might. Not making any promises. **

_**I actually tried to post this last night, but the document manager was being stupid. So yeah, you'll still get an update(s) today.**_


	21. Tell Her

"So what exactly is the problem here?" Jack asked, looking at me.

I rolled my eyes. "Somebody knows. Somebody knows about me and Lilly."

"I thought you weren't going to ask her out," Jack said, looking confused. I should've known that this was far too complex for him to understand.

"I wasn't. I'm not. Shut up. What I'm saying, is that somebody found out that I maybe like her, and I don't know what the hell to do about it. She came in to ask me if she could leave work early, and I hardly knew what to say to her! Asked her about that stupid parcel that you dropped in. Was that supposed to be funny, by the way? It wasn't. But anyway, somebody at the office knows, and I'm betting that it's probably someone with a big mouth, because otherwise they wouldn't be interested. Which means that there's a chance that they'll tell someone, who will tell someone, who will tell someone, who will tell Lilly," I said.

Jack still looked dubious. "Right. And what do you plan on doing about that?"

"Oh, I have a perfect plan. That's exactly why I'm sitting here asking for your advice, because I already have a foolproof idea. That makes a whole lot of sense," I said, highly sarcastically.

Jack looked at me. "Am I supposed to be helping you?"

"Why the hell did I even come to ask you for advice?" I sat back, and screwed my eyes shut. I had no idea why I even bothered. It wasn't like I was going to get any good help out of him anyway.

"I was asking myself the same question," Jack muttered, obviously not very happy at the fact that I didn't appreciate his un-helpful advice.

I opened my eyes, ready to say something back, when Rachel poked her head into the room, obviously wanting to see what all the fuss was about.

"What's the matter?"

Jack smiled at her. Apparently he's only in a mood with me. "Oliver's just stressing out about Lilly. Nothing big."

"Nothing big?" I hissed. "Have you been listening to me these past twenty minutes? Wait. Of course you haven't. It's you."

"What's the matter?" Rachel asked, and I raised my eyebrows. It's bad enough talking to Jack about this sort of stuff, but talking to Jack's _wife?_ Who must be slightly insane to be able to put up with my brother? Yeah, I don't think so.

I shook my head and began to stand up. "It's nothing. I thought Jack might be able to help, but I obviously thought wrong."

"Oliver. Sit down, and let me help," Rachel smiled patronisingly as she sat down next to my brother, and put her head on his shoulder.

"With what?" I asked, but did as she said, folding my arms as I did so. Just to let her know that I wasn't happy about it.

Jack looked at me, and rolled his eyes. "He's freaking out because he thinks that someone at his office might know that he has a thing for Lilly. And that Lilly might know that he has a thing for Lilly. And that Lilly might know that somebody knows that he has a thing for Lilly. And that - "

"Will you just shut up?" I snapped. A confused Jack was never a good thing.

"She knows?" Rachel looked at me. "Well, what are you going to do about it?"

I groaned. "Do you seriously think I'm here for the fun of it? That I enjoy dropping in to visit my brother just to chat about things?"

"Sorry," Rachel laughed, and I almost pointed out how un-funny this was. She spoke again before I could say anything. "How do you know that she knows?"

"I don't. I know that somebody in my office knows, and have a feeling that the person that knows likes to gossip. Why else would they be interested in my life? And, if the person that knows is a gossip, then it can't be long before Lilly knows, right?" I said, trying to give Rachel some information that was actually true.

Rachel thought for a minute. "I guess so. And you want to know how you can stop it spreading before Lilly finds out about it? Is that what you want to do?"

"Yeah," I nodded, relieved that someone had finally got it. Even if Rachel was insane enough to want to spend the rest of her life with my idiot brother, she was still able to use her brain.

"You can't do it," she said after a minutes thought.

And I'd just complimented her! In my head, but still, I'd complimented her. Now she was giving me nothing.

"What?" I asked, hoping she was joking.

Rachel looked at me apologetically. "I'm sorry Oliver, but there is no way that you're going to be able to do that. If this person is a huge gossip like you fear, chances are she's already told someone. You'd have to do some serious damage control; going around telling everyone that they've told that you don't like Lilly. And even then, they probably won't believe you."

"So what am I supposed to do then?" I asked, knowing what she was going to tell me. Not that I wanted to hear it. Maybe she'd have another option. I hope she has another option.

"Tell her," Rachel stated, as bluntly as possible.

I sat up, the shock still hitting me even though I knew what she was going to say. "Tell her what? What exactly am I supposed to tell her?"

"Everything," Jack said, although how he got the authority to tell me what to do, I don't know.

"No. I can't. No way. I am not about to go up to my secretary, and tell her that I've been hiding my secret love for her since we first talked," I said, shaking my head.

"Okay, can you say that again?" Jack gasped, looking surprised. "I mean this morning you just liked her. Now you love her? When did this happen?"

I looked at him, trying to think of some way to cover up what I'd just said. Nothing came to me.

"Well that's it. You have to tell her now. My god, and then you can get together, and then whenever I go to visit Mom and Dad, I won't have grandma asking me when you're planning on getting married!" Jack said, sounding excited. Why the heck was he excited?

I looked at him, narrowing my eyes. But, because he's Jack, he didn't pick up on this, because he is dense.

"You know, whenever I go to see our parents, grandma always asks when you're going to give her her first grandchild. At first I kept reminding her of Carter, but I got sick of it eventually. She always did like you best anyway. Yeah, but I kept having to tell her that you were a loser and didn't even have a girlfriend yet. But now I can tell her that you're in love with this girl, and that it shouldn't be long before she gets her grandchild. She'll be so happy, and I won't have to endure the questioning! I tell you something though Oliver, if she pops her clogs before you and Lilly pop out her wanted grandchild, she'll be poppin' mad in heaven. Or hell. Or wherever it is that she's headed," Jack rambled.

I just looked at him. "If I say that I'll tell her, will you shut up?"

"Nope," Jack shook his head. "I will only shut up when you tell her. Because anybody can _say _that they'll talk to someone, but it's harder to actually do it. So until I know that you have definitely told her, I shall keep talking about grandma and how you were always treated better by her. Now, you claim that it isn't your fault, but I think it's probably because when you did bad stuff, you never got caught. Well, you did, but I always got caught more. And then blamed. Whereas you just got told not to do it again, like you were mentally challenged or something - "

I got up, unable to listen to him talking rubbish anymore. Rachel got up too, and followed me out of the room.

"I think you should do it. And not for the reason that Jack suggested, because you know him. But purely because you both deserve it. She seemed like a great girl, and I think that you guys would be great together. Obviously you don't have to listen to me, but I think she'd rather hear the truth from you, than from some idiot personal assistant or whatever who thinks they know the whole story," Rachel said, leaning on the banister as I walked over to the door. "Just think about it, okay Oliver? And once you've decided you'll do it - which you'd better - go for it. Don't let it hang in the air. Just tell her."

I didn't say anything. Just forced a smile, and then walked out of the door and into the night. It had turned dark since I turned up at Jack's. How long had I been there?

Whatever. Like that mattered. I had more important things to worry about. Like the fact that they were both right.

I hate it when my brother's right. Almost as much as I hate being wrong.


	22. Love And Run

I walked into work extra-slowly, taking my time to walk over to the elevator. Miley had tried to pep me up, and get me excited (I neglected to mention that nothing would make me less nervous) but obviously failed. I'd left as soon as I possibly could, but took my time to get here.

As I pressed the button to close the elevator doors, somebody slid into the elevator, and it just so happened to be one of the last people I wanted to see at that precise moment in time.

"Hey Lilly," she drawled, obviously missing the 'do not speak to me' vibes that I was oh-so-clearly sending out.

I didn't even bother to reply. If she didn't know why I was annoyed at her, then she was stupid. Stupider...

"I guess you know then, huh?" she said, not even sounding sorry. No remorse in her voice whatsoever.

"Yeah. I know. I know that you looked at my private e-mails. I know that you read them even though they were none of your business. I know that I trusted you, and you went and violated that, by looking at things that had nothing to do with you! And then you had the cheek to send me an anonymous note about what you'd read! I cannot believe you!" I said, my initial idea to be silent going out of the window.

She sighed. "Well, whatever."

"Did you tell anyone?" I asked, almost not wanting to know. But I had to. If word got round to Oliver then I'd have to quit my job. I'd have to move back to Malibu. Or even out of California. I'd have to change my name, and dye my hair brown!

Her silence told me everything.

"Who'd you tell?" I asked, my throat closing up as I said it.

"Just the receptionist downstairs," she said, and I thought I heard a hint of an apology in her voice. But I didn't care.

The elevator doors opened, and I turned to her. "Well thank you very much for that. I would say have a nice weekend, but I hope you don't."

Then I walked over to my desk, and sat down, turning my back on her. I didn't even want to see her. I turned on my computer furiously and blinked back the tears that had invaded my eyes. I could feel her watching me, but I didn't care. Why should I care about her?

"Hello Mr. Oken."

I winced as I heard her smarmy voice, and felt a swoop in my stomach at his name. I'd decided to do it just before I left. So that as soon as I'd said it I could walk out and be gone for the rest of the weekend.

"Morning Lilly," Oliver said. I looked up at him and smiled feebly. He didn't look great. Then again, I hardly got any sleep last night, so I won't look perfect either, will I?

"Hey," I said quietly.

We looked at each other for a second. I think he knew that something was wrong. Well I've never greeted him that quietly or subdued before. So yeah, even I'd guess that something was wrong with me. But there's also something wrong with him. He's not the Oliver that I'm used to.

After a few seconds, he walked into his office, and I turned back to my computer. Rose had watched this exchange - I'd spotted it out of the corner of my eye - and I looked at her through narrowed eyes before blanking her again. She was the reason that I was feeling like this, so I was completely entitled to ignore her.

The day trickled by slowly. I tried to avoid contact with Oliver as much as possible, and he seemed to do the same. No invitation to lunch came, and whenever a call came from him I told him the line and no more words were spoken. It was weird, but I didn't question it. I just wondered what had him acting weird. I mean, I had a perfectly plausible reason. Maybe he was upset about something. Maybe telling him today wouldn't be the greatest of ideas.

I promised Miley though. So I'll do it. I will.

Finally Rose began packing away her stuff, and people began leaving. I let out a shaky breath, knowing that I couldn't put it off any longer. Sending a quick text to Miley, I told her that I was going to do it. Just to stop me chickening out. Then I got up, and knocked on Oliver's office door.

"Come in," I heard him say, and I pushed open the door, attempting to walk in a straight line.

"Hey," I said, standing awkwardly in the middle of the carpet.

Oliver looked up, and although he looked surprised to see me, he smiled. There was definitely something else there though. "I would've thought you'd been gone by now. Weren't you visiting your parents? For the weekend or something?"

"Yeah. Yeah, we are. I had to talk to you about something first though," I said, biting my lip.

Oliver nodded. "I was hoping you hadn't gone. Because I wanted to talk to you too."

"Really?" I looked him in the eye for a second, and then looked at the floor. "Um... you can go first."

The longer I could put this off, the better I'd feel, frankly.

For a minute it looked like he was actually going to say something, but then he shook his head. "I'm sure yours is more important. You go."

"To be honest, mine isn't important at all," I said, lying through my teeth. Of course it was important. But he didn't know that. "You can go."

Oliver looked amused for a second. "You."

"I'm not playing a game here. I have to go, so if you can tell me what you wanted to talk about, I'd be very happy," I argued.

"Who said I wanted you to be happy?" Oliver raised his eyebrows.

I bit into my lip even harder. It was a wonder I didn't cut into it. "Please. Just... go first."

"Um... okay. Well... I was just... I wanted to say..." Oliver kept beginning a new sentence, never actually finishing what he was saying.

I raised my gaze from the carpet, and caught his eye. "You're not finishing your sentences."

"I know. Um... I was going to ask... when you got back from your parents," Oliver said, looking sort of angry. With himself, I think, because I'd done nothing to make him angry at me.

I almost sighed. For a minute... no. "Uh, Sunday night. They live right on the beach in Malibu, so I'm in no rush to leave. Plus, me and Miley have to have a drink at Rico's to toast old times, so after the barbeque on Saturday, we'd need to wait until Sunday to do that."

"Right," Oliver said, having gone unusually quiet.

My cell phone beeped in my pocket, and I quickly took it out.

_Good luck. You can do it. Me and Jake are in the car outside with your stuff. He'll feel the same way Lills, I know it._

I took a deep breath. Well, it was now or never.

"You can say what you want to now," Oliver offered, and I tore my eyes away from him. It would be better not to see his face when I told him. It would be better not to see anything.

"Um..." I backed away toward the door. "I have to rush off, so I'll tell you this one thing. I know it's totally inappropriate, and I know that you probably won't feel the same way whatsoever, but... I think... I think I might love you."

And, without waiting to see his reaction, I was out of the door, and into the elevator (which, miraculously had been open). As the doors closed I collapsed against the side of the lift, breathing a sigh of relief. Well, it wasn't really relief. I had no idea how he'd reacted to it. So I couldn't have been relieved.

But as the doors opened to the ground floor, and I ran out, and into the car where Miley and Jake were waiting, I half wished that I'd stayed up there. Stayed up there to see his reaction.

Ignoring Miley's demands to hear what happened, I closed my eyes and slumped in the back seat, trying to block everything out. Trying to get some peace. But most of all, trying to imagine what he would've said, had I stayed around.

**To 'jay', who left me a review that I couldn't reply to: I'm not going to pretend that I'd thought of that - when you said it I was freaking out because I hadn't! But I tweaked a few things in the e-mail. Miley doesn't actually say that Hannah is BFFs with Lilly. She merely says that Hannah is friends with her. And she only says that they go to Hannah Montana concerts together, not that she's actually on stage. Also, Rose may not be aware of the fact that Lilly worked for Hannah Montana, and so wouldn't put two and two together. I know that there's probably a dozen holes in it, but I didn't want to have to rewrite the last few chapters. But thank you for reading and reviewing, especially as it made me realise that I really need to think things through more thoroughly before writing. :D**

**Wow that was a long AN. But yeah, review. And I promise I'll get rid of the (sort of) cliffhanger tomorrow. Maybe. ;P**


	23. The Plan

What the...

She just said that she loved me. Didn't she? I wasn't hearing things, was I? No. She definitely said that she thought she loved me.

Thought? As in, she wasn't definite?

Ugh, I can't believe that I chickened out! Why didn't I tell her? She was standing right there, and I had the perfect opportunity, and I didn't tell her that I loved her. Jack is going to kill me.

Wait. Why am I worrying about this? She just said she loved me! And then ran out! Why am I not running after her already?

I got up quickly, and ran over to the elevator. Annoyingly, it took about a minute to reach me, and then, after I'd hurried in, the doors closed painstakingly slowly. When I finally reached the ground floor, I ran as fast as possible out of the door, ignoring the receptionist who was calling after me, sounding puzzled. Yeah, well she's not the only one who's confused.

"Lilly!" I yelled, once I was out of the building. A car door closed to the left of me, and in the left hand wing mirror I saw Jake Ryan. That was it. Her car. Well, Jake's car, but she must have been in it. It was just too big a coincidence to have Jake's car parked outside the building that Lilly had just left.

I pelted after it, just as it pulled away, but slowed down once it became clear that I was never going to catch it. I mean a car beats a person any day of the week.

But still. She loved me. She said that she loved me.

Not caring about the fact that the light in my office was still on, nor that I'd left the pile of paperwork that I needed to do on my desk, I stuck my hand out and called a cab. After last night I never thought I'd be going to my brother for help again. But this time I have a plan, I just need him to give me a little helping push.

---

"You're going to what?" Jack asked, looking at me, his eyes wide. "What the heck are you thinking?"

I looked at him. "I don't see any other option. She told me that she thought she loved me, and then ran out of the building. She's at her parents. And I cannot go the whole weekend not talking to her about this."

"What is there to talk about?" Jack cried, throwing his arms up in the air.

"Well for one thing, she doesn't know that I love her. She ran out before I had chance to tell her how I felt. So I have to tell her that. And I need to know what she wants to do about it," I said, pacing the floor.

Jack had opened the door when I knocked, and when he saw it was me his expression went from surprise, to confusion, to elation, and had asked me how it went. I related the story back to him, told him my plan, and, needless to say, he thought I was insane. But whatever.

Rachel was sat on the couch, taking this conversation in, and staying remarkably quiet. I guessed that she was probably saving her opinion for last, which, considering Jack's shouting, was probably a very good idea.

"What do you mean 'what she wants to do about it'? She loves you, you doughnut, what do you think she wants to do about it? Hold hands and do ring-around-the-roses?" Jack remarked, snorting as he did so.

I rolled my eyes. "No. But she might not want to pursue a relationship when we work together."

"Didn't stop her falling in love with you," Jack snapped.

I turned to him, stopping the pacing. "Well I didn't exactly ask to fall in love with her, did I? I couldn't help it. Maybe it was the same for her."

Jack rolled his eyes at me. "Maybe. I still don't see why you're going to do whatever it is you're going to do. Can't you just talk to her on Monday?"

"No!" I shouted. "No, I can't. If I could wait until Monday, do you think I'd be here?"

"Why are you here? It isn't like you needed advice, is it? You're already dead set on doing this. What exactly did you come here for?"

I shook my head in disbelief. "So that you didn't worry. So that you didn't call me tomorrow, and totally freak out when I didn't answer."

Jack stared at me for a minute, and then turned to his wife. "Rachel. Rachel, do you think that this is a good idea?"

Rachel looked at both of us before pursing her lips and answering. "I don't know. But I know that it would be better to speak to her before Monday. As soon as possible really. Before she has time to regret what she's said, and - in drastic measures - possibly even quit her job."

"Why would she quit?" Jack asked.

"Well think about it Jack. She's just told her boss that she loves him. Then she ran away, not waiting to see how he felt. Because she didn't stick around, she's probably imagining what he reacted like. And the longer you leave it, the worse those reactions will get. She'll start imagining that he laughed at her, or that he fired her on the spot. But the quicker you find her... well, that means that you'll probably cut down the horrible scenarios that are running through her head right now. If you don't speak to her, then she'll believe her scenarios. She'll think that you reacted like that, and quit before you can say anything."

I opened my mouth. "But I wouldn't have reacted like that. I would never - "

"She doesn't know that, does she?" Rachel interrupted. "I know that it isn't what you want to hear Jack, but I think that Oliver has a pretty good idea. Plus he's pretty set about it, so nothing you say will change his mind."

Jack looked like he was about to argue, but then he stuck out his bottom lip, and sat down heavily on the couch.

"Go for it Oliver," Rachel smiled, putting her hand on Jack's knee. "She's waiting for you."

**So yeah, I decided to give in to the peer pressure (but never again, I swear) and update once more tonight. It's a short update, but as I say, you will get a lovely one tomorrow. I think that the plan is pretty damn obvious, so yeah.**


	24. Here For The Party

"Lilly," Miley said, for the third time in an hour.

I hadn't spoken a word to either Miley or Jake since getting in the car, preferring to be left with my thoughts. Miley had chatted away, telling me that she'd taken the bag that was packed in my room, and she assumed that that was the right bag. She asked about five times what had happened, and how he'd reacted, but when I didn't reply, she changed the subject. I guess she knew that it hadn't gone as she'd expected it to, or maybe I was just not reacting like she'd expected me to, because she kept sighing, and whispering things to Jake.

"Lilly, please speak to me. What happened?" she asked.

Something snapped. "I ran away, okay Miley? I told him, and then ran away. I don't know how he reacted, and I don't know if he laughed, or smiled, or frowned, or whatever, because I ran away. Okay? Happy now?"

"Lilly..." Miley whispered, trailing off because she could think of nothing else to say. She looked at Jake; I caught the glance that they shared in the rear-view mirror.

I closed my eyes again, and let my thoughts drift back to Oliver. Not that they'd strayed far from this subject for the past few weeks.

What if he hates me now? What if he absolutely hates me, and fires me, and cuts all contact, and... oh god. Oh my gosh, why did I run away? Why was I such a wimp? Oh god.

"Miley, what if he hates me?" I sat up properly, snapping my eyes open, and speaking my worst fears. "I should've stayed around, shouldn't I?"

Miley sighed. "I'm not saying that you did the right thing, Lilly. But you told him, and now the rest is up to him."

Right. The rest is up to him. The ball is in his court, and he has to chase after it. He decides what happens to us both now. He decides.

"But..." Jake began, but Miley threw a glance at him; her eyes narrowed. "Miley, she has a right to know."

Miley looked sour, but waved her hand, giving Jake approval.

"He came running out of the building just as you got in the car. Can't have hated you too much, can he?"

This gave me a spectacular feeling of relief. He ran out after me? He cared enough to want me to hear what he had to say? He chased me out?

Well that can only mean good things, right? I mean you don't generally race after somebody to break their heart, do you?

"We're almost there Lilly," Miley commented, in a patronising voice. I turned to look out of the window, pressing my forehead against the cold glass and sighed. I recognised the places now, and knew that we were going to my old house first. "I figured that seeing as your place is where we're having the barbeque, we'd all drop in there. Then I could go and see dad."

"Okay," I muttered, as we pulled onto the street where my parents lived. We pulled up to the house, and my mom flung open the door, and ran out to the car, a huge grin on her face.

Miley pushed open her door, and hugged my mother. I saw her lips move as she hugged her, no doubt telling her that I wasn't feeling my best - which is an understatement.

Slowly I reached out for the door handle, and pulled it back, opening the door. Then I climbed out, and walked over to my mother who was watching me with Miley.

"Are you okay?" Mum asked, pulling me into a hug. I didn't move, just let her hug me, and then sighed as she pulled back. "Lilly, honey, is everything alright?"

I forced a smile and nodded. "Yeah, mom, everything's fine. I'm just having a bad day is all. I'll be fine in a minute."

Miley raised her eyebrows, but said nothing. "Are we staying here tonight Mrs. Truscott?"

"If you want to Miley, dear. If your father wouldn't mind. I know he's been missing you around the house."

"Yeah. He sounded glad when I told him I was coming to see him. Me and Jake will probably walk over tonight, then come back here to sleep, if that's okay with you. We want to be here early so that we can help out with the party," Miley smiled, and I knew she was trying to keep the subject away from me and my 'bad day'. I silently thanked her, and then walked around to the trunk of the car to get out my bag.

Jake beat me to it, and lifted it out of the boot, handing it to me. "You okay?"

"Not really," I shrugged. "But, would you expect me to be?"

"Don't worry about it Lilly. Oliver's a good guy - granted I've only met him once - but Miley thinks he's perfect for you, so he must've done something right," Jake said, pulling out his and Miley's bags.

Noticing he had his hands full, I put my hand onto the lid of the boot, and pushed it down. "Uh-huh. I just... I don't even know."

"Lilly, smile. When he ran out of that building I tried to stop, but people behind us were already beginning to look angry at the speed at which we were driving. If we stopped altogether they wouldn't have been pleased. But from what I saw, he didn't look like a guy who wanted to tell an amazing girl that he hated her," Jake said.

I smiled weakly and nodded. "Thanks Jake."

"No problem," Jake said, and walked around me to greet my mother. With another sigh, I walked up the driveway, and into the house that I'd grown up in.

About half an hour later, Miley walked into the living room, where I was sat, thinking. I really should stop thinking so much about this, because I am slowly convincing myself that he hates me. When everybody else has told me a thousand times that he doesn't.

"We're going to go visit dad for a bit," Miley said, sitting down next to me. "You want to come along?"

I shook my head wordlessly.

"Lilly, stop thinking about it. I know that the more you think about it, the more neurotic you'll get. So stop thinking about Oliver, and do something to take your mind off of it," Miley said.

"Tomorrow," I said. "I'll do something tomorrow, okay? There's hardly any of today left anyway. So tomorrow I will immerse myself in getting everything ready for this party, and I'll be happy."

Miley sighed, but she knew when she wasn't going to get a better offer. "Fine. But I'll be holding you to that."

"You do that," I said, looking back at the TV, where some random programme was on.

Miley got up. "We'll be back in about an hour, okay?"

I nodded. "Tell your dad that I said hi, okay?"

"I will," Miley smiled, and then she walked out of the room. I heard muttering outside the room, and then the front door closed.

Okay. I'm not thinking about Oliver again until Monday. I'm just not thinking about him until I have to.

Clearing my mind of all other thought, I tried to focus on the TV screen.

A guy who looked faintly like Oliver was talking.

Oh god. I just thought about Oliver. Okay. From now on, not until Monday. Just not thinking - oh, who am I kidding? I'm not going to be able to not think about him until Monday. I should just accept my fate, and be done with it.

If I haven't said this before, I'll say it now: love stinks.

---

Because I always stay true to my promises, I got up early the next morning and helped mom clean. I told her the whole story, and she was amazingly... calm. Being my mother, I thought she'd totally freak out, and hug me and squeal and outdo Miley. But she listened, and then told me the same as Miley: don't think about it. Which is easier said than done.

Anyway, after that I washed my hair, and got dressed. To be totally honest, I just wanted to stay in my pyjamas, but Miley insisted that I wear this red dress. Dress. As in... not jeans. It wasn't even a dress that you wear over trousers. It was knee length, and had flowers on it. I would say that it was something that Lola would wear, but it wasn't that weird.

"Lilly! Dad's here! Can you get the door?" Miley called from her bedroom, and I took one last look in the mirror before running downstairs.

Mr. Stewart was stood at the door, a grin on his face. He held out his hands when he saw me, and I couldn't resist smiling. "Lilly! How've you been? Since the last concert."

"Good, thank you," I grinned, and hugged him. "Sorry I didn't come to see you yesterday. I was feeling sort of down, but as you can see, I'm fine now."

"That's good. Miley said you weren't feeling right. Glad you're okay now though," Mr. Stewart said, stepping into the house.

I led him through to the kitchen, although he'd been here before, so he probably knew where the kitchen was. "Mom's making salad. Mike's off annoying somebody. Dad's putting on the barbeque, but he's never been very good at that."

"I'll go help him," Mr. Stewart nodded at my mom, and then walked through to the back yard where my father was saying some very choice swear words under his breath.

Around half an hour later, the house was full with people that my mom had invited. I could barely remember half of them, so found myself sitting with Miley and Jake for the majority of the afternoon.

"I'm going to get another drink," I said, getting up from the table. "Plus, I'm feeling slightly third-wheelish here. So yeah, leaving you guys alone now."

Miley smiled at me. "We don't mind Lilly."

"You might, but I do," I said, and climbed up the garden steps that led into the kitchen. As I walked over to the fridge, the doorbell rung, and seeing as nobody had made a move to answer it when I'd gotten myself a soda, I rolled my eyes and walked over to the front door. "I'll get it then! Everybody else is having a good time, so naturally the bored one is the one who has to answer the door! Where the hell is Mike?"

I grabbed the handle, and pushed it down, pulling the door toward me. "Are you here for the party?" I asked, before fully opening the door.

A very familiar sounding voice answered. The very same voice that I'd been trying to keep out of my mind all day. "No... I'm actually here to talk to you."

**Uh-huh, so cliffhanger. I might have another update today, but I have a feeling that the next chapter might take a while to write, because I want it to be perfect. Thanks for all the reviews! One off 200! Yay!**


	25. Most Important Thing

"I'm actually here to talk to you."

I looked up at her, noticing that she was even more beautiful than I'd remembered her, and I'd seen her less than 24 hours ago. She was wearing this red dress and her hair was down and... okay.

"Hi," I said, and she shook her head slightly, as though she were trying to be sure that this wasn't some sort of hallucination.

"Hey," she said quietly, obviously still trying to make sure that she wasn't delirious.

Silence fell between us. I didn't know what to say now, and Lilly obviously didn't either. But somebody had to talk, because this was just getting awkward.

"How are you?" I asked, mentally hitting myself as I said it. I'd driven up here, rehearsing the exact thing to say, and thought I had it sussed, but when she opened the door... would it be cheesy to say that I forgot what I was going to say. She was just standing there, and...

"Been better," she smiled weakly, and then looked down at the floor. After a few seconds, she looked back up at me. "Oliver... how are you here?"

I raised my eyebrows. "Well, my mom and dad... you know, I don't really like thinking about that..."

She laughed slightly, and rolled her eyes. "No. I meant, how did you find out... how did you find me?"

"It wasn't easy, let me tell you that much. You said that you were coming to Malibu, so that was the first place I drove. I went to Rico's first, because you mentioned going there, and I guessed you had to live close by. Obviously it was near a beach, and you said that you lived near a beach. I asked a few dozen people whether they knew you or where your parents lived. A few of them told me this street, so I've just been knocking on random people's doors. This woman a couple of houses down said that the Truscott's' lived here, and that's the story," I said, hoping that it didn't sound as stalkery out loud as it did in my head.

"Right," Lilly said, looking slightly anxious. "Which brings me to my next question... what are you doing here?"

"I needed to talk to you. I couldn't just... wouldn't just... couldn't just..." I began fine, but trailed off slowly.

"Leave it like it I left it yesterday?"

"Yeah," I said, looking at the ground. I wanted to say something else, but it seemed a bit open, saying it while we were standing on her doorstep.

A silence spread between us again, broken only seconds later by the sound of footsteps from inside her house. "Lilly! How long does it take to get a - oh my god. But you're... and she's... and what the heck is going on?"

"Hi Miley," I said awkwardly, as the brunette came into view. "What's up?"

"Not much," she answered slowly. "You?"

I shrugged. "Yeah, kind of in the middle of something important."

Miley nodded, still obviously astounded. "Looks like it."

"Uh-huh," I nodded, and then looked back at Lilly, who was standing as though frozen in the doorway.

Miley walked forward, and gently pushed Lilly aside. "You can come in... I'm totally sure that if Lilly weren't frozen, she'd invite you in. But in her current state, she can't do that, so I'll do it for her."

"I'm not frozen..." Lilly muttered to her friend, and then turned to me. "Um... yeah. Come on in." She stepped aside, leaving a gap that I could step through. Once I was in the hallway, Lilly closed the front door slowly.

"Okay, not that we're not glad to see you Oliver, I need to ask: why the hell are you here? Forgive me for being so blunt," Miley said, looking at me expectantly.

"I needed to talk to Lilly about what she said yesterday," I said, not taking my eyes off of Lilly, who looked up at me. The anxiety was visible in her eyes.

"What I said yesterday? Can't we just forget it, because I seriously don't want to be fired, and I don't want you to hate me..."

She thinks I hate her? Jeez, Rachel was right.

"I don't hate you, Lills," I said as calmly as possible. Realising that I might have used a nickname that she didn't like, I rewound. "Lilly."

Miley looked back and forward; from me to Lilly, and then jerked a thumb over her shoulder. "I'm going to go... talk to my dad." Then, with one last look at the both of us, she walked into the kitchen, and I heard the back door close.

"I don't hate you," I repeated. "How could I hate you?"

"Because... because I told you that I loved you. And then ran out of your office. Look, I know that I sounded stupid, and I know that you probably feel nothing toward me, but please, can we forget it happened?"

Not taking my eyes off of her, I thought carefully about how to answer this. On one hand, I didn't want to forget it. But on the other, she did. Maybe, no matter what I said, she'd want to forget it. Making my decision, I shook my head. "No."

The silence resumed, before Lilly looked back up. "Well why the hell not? What's going to happen? You're not... firing me, are you? Please don't! I didn't mean to, it just... I just..."

"Lilly, I'm not firing you," I said, apparently unable to say more than one sentence at a time.

"Oh. Right. Well... why can't we forget that I ever said it then?"

I looked up at her, knowing that I had to tell her now. It wasn't like I didn't know how she felt about me. "Because maybe I don't want to forget that you ever said it."

Lilly hesitated before saying anything else. "What?"

"I don't want to pretend you never said it. Because... well, maybe I feel the same way as you do. Maybe I think I love you too."

You have no idea how good it felt to get that off of my chest. It was like a huge weight had been lifted off of my shoulders.

Lilly was staring at me blankly, as though she was still trying to comprehend what I'd just said.

"In fact, scratch those maybes. I do love you. And that was what I wanted to say to you yesterday, but I chickened out at last minute. I never thought that you were going to say the same thing, but when you did and the ran out... I was stunned, and didn't get out of the office in time to catch your elevator. And by the time I got out, you were getting into the car and driving away. But I couldn't leave it like that until Monday. I talked to Rachel and Jack, and Rachel said that the longer I left it, the more scenarios you'd be predicting, and I didn't want you to think I hated you for the whole weekend, because I don't. I feel the opposite, and so I had to tell you. I had to tell you that I loved you too," I said, praying for her to speak. To say something... anything.

She blinked, and stepped forward tentatively. "Um... can you say that again?"

"What, the whole thing? Because I'm not sure that I'll be able to remember the entire speech," I said.

"Just... just that last part," Lilly said, tripping up over a few words.

I kept my gaze trained on her face. "I love you. To be honest, I think I've been in love with you for a while, I just didn't think you'd feel the same way," I said. "But if you want to forget that you ever said it, then you can. I just won't."

For a minute I thought she was going to say that she was going to forget it. That she was going to pretend that this conversation never happened. The way she hesitated and bit her lip, and then looked away made me think that she wanted to forget.

But what she did next, made me sure that she didn't want to pretend nothing happened. That she actually wanted the exact opposite.

She walked forwards, and her lips were on mine, and her hands were around my neck, and my hands were on her waist. Everything was a blur, but a very good blur. A very good blur.

I pulled back, and rested my forehead on hers. She looked up at me, her blue eyes sparkling, and her smile infectious.

"I don't want to forget," she whispered, as if that much wasn't obvious. "I love you, okay? I don't know why, and I don't know how, but I do."

I smiled. "Same here."

Reality seemed to sink in, and Lilly pulled back, a worried look on her face. "What about working together?"

"What about it?" I shrugged, seeing no problem.

"Don't they frown upon it at the company? Dating someone in the workplace?" she asked, looking panicked.

I raised my eyebrows. "Okay, you're fired."

"What?" she exclaimed. "What?"

"Okay, fine. You can keep your job... but I'll quit," I said, with a shrug of my shoulders.

Lilly shook her head. "You can't quit. That's ludicrous. You can't quit a job where you get paid really well, just because we work together. That's insane, and I won't let you do that."

"Right... so I can't quit and I can't fire you," I said, raising my eyebrows. "How exactly do you want to solve this so-called problem?"

She folded her arms. "So-called problem? Don't you see that it's a big deal?"

"No," I shook my head, as though it was obvious. "No, I don't. Because as far as I'm concerned, it's only a problem if we break up. And I know for a fact, that if I ever broke up with you, I'd be a very stupid guy."

Lilly looked up at me, smiling slightly. "That's incredibly... incredibly sweet. Do you mean that? Seriously?"

"Of course," I said, taking her hands in mine. "So unless you plan on leaving me, I can see no problem."

"With a line like that, I think that if I left you, I'd be a very stupid girl," Lilly smiled, stepping back toward me.

I put my hands on her waist again, and looked into her eyes once more. "I hoped you'd say that."

"I know," she smiled, and kissed me again. The second time was better, if possible, than the first, but this time she was the one to break contact. "You want some food? There's like, a ton outside. And knowing you, you probably didn't buy anything to eat while you were at Rico's."

Not even bothering to ask how she knew that, I shrugged. "Aren't your parents out there?"

"Well you obviously have to meet them too," Lilly said, like it was completely obvious. Then again, I suppose it was. I just hadn't thought about it, because my thoughts had been elsewhere.

I guess I didn't look all that confident, because Lilly laughed, biting her lip as she did so. "Okay, well you can hardly expect to show up at my parents house, and not have to introduce yourself to them. Plus, Miley went out there about ten minutes ago, and I guarantee that she's told everybody in the vicinity that you're here. That's just Miley for you. To be Hannah Montana, you've got to have a big mouth. That's how you get the words out, apparently."

"Really?" I asked, not really believing it.

"Well, that's what she told me..." Lilly said, her arms still around my neck. "But I'm not sure I believe it either." She pouted slightly, and stamped her foot on the wooden floor. "Come on! You have to come outside, because I'm not leaving you indoors, and my mother will kill me if I disappear for the remainder of the party without excusing myself from the guests."

"I don't want to intrude," I said, knowing that this wouldn't work at all. Worth a try though.

Lilly rolled her eyes. "The intruding ship has sailed. It left port when you showed up at the door unannounced. Anyway, I was getting tired of being third wheel anyway. It's getting really old, and I can just tell that Miley and Jake don't want to be talking to me, while they could be doing... other stuff."

"What's 'other stuff'?" I asked, although I didn't think I really wanted to know anyway.

The look on her face told me that I really didn't want to know. She slid her arms from around my neck, and grabbed my hand instead. "Come on! My parents don't bite. Mike might, but he isn't venomous, so you should be fine."

I let her pull me out of the hallway and into the kitchen. "You're making me feel so much better about doing this."

"That was my intention," Lilly laughed, and pulled open the door to the back yard.

We went unnoticed for a few seconds but then Miley rushed over to us. "So?"

"So, what?" I asked, looking at Lilly confused.

Lilly hid her smile quickly, and looked at me, mirroring my expression. "What so?"

"You know what. Both of you know what. Now why don't you tell me what?" Miley said, putting her hands on her hips.

"What what?"

"What do I know what?"

"What?"

Miley rolled her eyes. "Oh so funny." Her eyes wandered down to where my hands were interlinked with Lilly's, and she pointed at them. "That's what."

"Miley, you're not making any sense," Lilly smiled, and pulled me away down the steps, leaving Miley standing next to empty space. Lilly found a space in the corner of the garden, where two empty chairs sat. She sat down in one of them, I sat in the other. "That was... weird. Miley is hardly ever speechless, but that certainly stopped her talking. I know that I'll get a full line of questioning later though. Not that I mind."

I smiled at her, and watched as she scanned the garden. "Sorry about dragging you into the party. It's just... I could hardly ditch it. Mom's been planning it for ages."

"It's fine," I said, meaning it. Why would I mind? Why would I mind about anything right now?

Lilly smiled at me.

"Lilly!" A shrill voice made her jump, and I looked up to see a blonde woman, who looked very like Lilly, running toward us. "Lilly, who's your friend?"

Blushing slightly, Lilly turned to look at the woman. "Mom, this is Oliver. We're sort of... together."

I looked up at Lilly's mother, who looked surprised, but happy nonetheless, and smiled. "Hey Mrs. Truscott."

---

"You'll stay here tonight Oliver?" Mrs. Truscott smiled warmly once almost all of her guests had left. Lilly's mom had been nothing but nice since I gate-crashed her party (unintentionally, of course).

I thought for a minute. I didn't want to impose, but it wasn't like I had anywhere else to go. Although I suppose that there's a hotel around here somewhere. There's a hotel everywhere. "I can just find a hotel room. I don't want to make trouble for you."

"Rubbish," Mrs. Truscott shook her head vigourously. "We had Miley and Jake stay here last night, so the guest room is all set up anyway. They're staying at Robbie Ray's tonight, so that room is unoccupied. Or you could stay in Lilly's room. I'm sure she wouldn't mind."

Lilly was out in the hallway, talking to Miley. I could hear the murmurs of conversation through the door, and caught my name a few times. Ah well. Should have expected it really. Lilly told me to expect it. And I could tell, while we had been talking to Miley and Jake earlier this afternoon, that Miley had been aching to ask Lilly what had happened after she left in the hallway.

"Well..." I began, not sure of what to do.

Ms. Truscott took this to mean yes, and smiled at me. "Good. You obviously have nowhere else to go, and why would you pay for a hotel, when you have a better service here?"

"Lilly has a boyfriend! Lilly has a boyfriend!" I'd had the pleasure of meeting Lilly's little brother, and this chant had been echoing around the house ever since. Lilly had threatened him a few times, but the chant had continued, and I knew that she was getting annoyed by it.

"Michael, if you know what's good for you, you'll shut your mouth like right now!" Lilly yelled from the hallway.

The chanting stopped, but I knew that it wouldn't last for long. He didn't seem the type to be too intimidated by Lilly, although he was running out of chances.

"See you tomorrow Oliver!" Miley called from the hallway.

"Bye dude!" Jake yelled.

I shouted back, and heard the front door close seconds later. A few seconds after that, Lilly walked into the living room, and sat down next to me.

"Lilly, Oliver's staying here tonight. I'm going to change the sheets," Mrs. Truscott got up, and left the room.

Lilly sighed. "So she drew you in."

"I didn't have much choice," I admitted.

She laughed. "My mom doesn't give people a choice. You either give her the answer she wants, or that's it."

"Well, I'll bear that in mind," I replied.

"You should," Lilly remarked, smiling slightly. "You know, 24 hours ago, I would never have guessed that I'd be doing this tonight," she said, leaning her head on my shoulder. "In fact, I sort of envisioned myself doing what I did last night. Watching Friends reruns, and trying to stop thinking about you. Oh, and trying to plan how to kill Rose without getting arrested."

I wrinkled my nose. "Kill Rose? Why would you want to do that?"

Lilly looked like she was about to say something, but then shook her head. "Never mind. I guess I shouldn't really want to kill her anymore anyway."

"No, tell me. Why do you want to murder- "

I was cut off by Lilly's lips planted firmly on mine. I guessed that this was probably a ploy to get me to drop it, but didn't mind. It probably wasn't important anyway. The most important thing right now, is the person kissing me.

**So... about two more chapters left. Maybe an epilogue. Possibly three, but no guarantees. And I know that this isn't perfect, but I felt that it was pretty close.**


	26. No More Third Wheel

I got up early the next morning, and walked downstairs slowly. My mind was reeling. Did yesterday actually happen? Well, obviously yesterday happened, but did the events of yesterday actually happen? Did Oliver turn up, and tell me that he loved me, and then stay in the guest room overnight, because we're now officially together? Did that actually happen?

For a moment I considered walking back upstairs, and checking that he actually was in the guest room, but all the reasons why that might be a bad idea flooded into my head, and I continued walking toward the kitchen, deciding that I'd wait until he came downstairs.

"Hey darling," my mom chirped. I'd always wondered how she managed to wake up this early, and still be so cheerful. I would never be able to manage it. Never. Not until I'd had a cup of coffee anyhow.

I smiled at her, and sat down on one of the stools next to the counter. "Morning."

"Actually, it's nearer afternoon," she said, and I looked up at the clock above the cooker. She was right. Eleven o'clock. How did I manage to sleep this late? And how late did I stay up last night, to be able to sleep this late.

Mom, being the superwoman that she is, looked at me. "You and Oliver stayed up talking until one in the morning. At least, I hope it was just talking. Considering you guys only got together yesterday."

"Mother," I rolled my eyes. "We just talked. I promise. And even if we hadn't just talked, you think I'd tell you about it?"

"No, I don't," she said, looking slightly upset.

I wrinkled my nose at her, but decided not to ask. Merely _thinking _about what her and dad do at one o'clock in the morning freaks me out, so why would she want to know what I do? Moms are weird.

"You want a drink?" she asked, reverting back to her normal self. "I just bought some smoothie on Thursday, because I knew you were coming. And I know what you say, but I don't fully believe that you and Miley feed yourselves properly in that flat on your own."

I rolled my eyes, but smiled at her. There were times when I missed my mom's fussing. "We feed ourselves just fine. You know that Miley's in the house all day, and so she usually cooks. And on weekends, I totally make pasta."

"Every weekend?" Mom sounded amused.

I nodded. "Uh-huh. You know that that's all I can make without being in danger of blowing the kitchen up."

"Well, at least you can make something," Mom smiled, and then looked at the clock once more. "Listen honey, I have to rush out. We're having dinner with the Stewarts tonight, and I wanted to get a few bottles of wine. To celebrate."

A horrible feeling came over me. "To celebrate what, mom?"

She merely smiled, and waved, before heading out of the kitchen.

"Mom! Celebrate what?" I cried after her, not really expecting an answer.

"What are we celebrating?" Oliver walked into the room, and I felt my heart skip a beat. So it wasn't just a dream. He actually did come to my house, and tell me he loved me, and oh my god, I look a mess.

"I was just asking that," I said, hoping my hair didn't look as bad as I thought it did.

Oliver smiled at me, then walked over and kissed me. He kissed me, he kissed me. If I weren't sensible, I'd be dancing right now. "Morning."

"It's almost not," I smiled, raising my eyebrows at the clock. "I don't know how we slept in this late either. But I do know that Miley will be calling by soon, and if she sees me in my pyjamas, she'll flip."

"Why?" Oliver said, sitting down beside me.

I shrugged. "She's just like that. Anyway, want a drink?" I got up, walking over to the fridge. Pulling it open, I took out the smoothie that mom had bought. No point in letting it go to waste. "Mom got smoothies, because she doesn't think that we feed ourselves properly on our own."

Oliver laughed. "I heard. Apparently you can only cook pasta?"

"Yep," I nodded. "All sorts of pasta though. Pasta with tomato sauce, lasagne, carbonara... I can cook any sort of pasta. Just nothing else."

"I'm going to have to get used to eating pasta then, aren't I?" Oliver said, smiling.

I bit my lip as I took down two glasses from the cupboard. Used to eating pasta? That could definitely have a ulterior meaning. But I shouldn't overanalyse, should I? Turning to him, and handing him a glass, which was now filled with smoothie, I smiled back. "I guess you will."

---

We spent the rest of Sunday looking around Malibu. Oliver seemed to like it here. When we finally walked up the beach to the Stewart house, it looked like everybody else had already arrived. Not that many other people were invited. Miley and Jake were there, obviously. My mom and dad (thankfully, Mike was nowhere in sight). And Jackson and his girlfriend. But yeah, they were all waiting for us. And when you think about it, having seven people waiting just for you to turn up is sort of weird.

"Hey!" Miley flung open the patio doors and ran out onto the deck. "I don't even want to know where you've been, but yeah. Your mom said that you'd gone this morning when she got back from the shop. And you missed a treat. Dad burnt the food. So we're ordering pizza, is that okay?"

I nodded, and looked up at Oliver, to see if he was okay with it.

"What was he cooking to begin with?" he asked.

Miley laughed. "Some sort of weird casserole dish. And have I told you that I'm totally glad you turned up yesterday, because I know that if you hadn't, Lilly would have moped around all day?"

"I would not," I insisted, but knew that she was probably right.

"Well I'm totally glad that I turned up yesterday too," Oliver said, and I smiled up at him.

Miley rolled her eyes, but she was trying not to smile as she spoke. "You guys are worse than me and Jake."

"I assure you Miley," I said, leading Oliver into the house. "That is just not possible."

As soon as we walked in, everybody stopped talking. I stood, my nose wrinkled. "Were you talking about us?"

"Of course not," my mom said, a bit too quickly. "We're just ordering pizza. What pizza do you eat Oliver?"

He shrugged. "Any. I'm not fussy."

"Okay," Mom nodded, and turned back to the menu, discussing pizza toppings, as though that was what the conversation had been about before.

I was about to go and ask Jake what they'd been talking about, when he got up and walked over to Mr. Stewart, looking sort of nervous. Wondering what the hell this was about, I watched them, as Jake talked, and Mr. Stewart listened. Then they both went outside.

"Lilly," Oliver asked, and I looked at him, tearing my gaze away from whatever it was that Jake and Mr. Stewart were doing outside the front door. "You okay?"

I nodded. "I'll be right back. I just have to go and ask Jake something."

Oliver smiled, and I made my way across the living room, getting to the door just in time, to see Jake pull out a little velvet box. My jaw dropped, and I swerved around, pretending that I hadn't seen what I'd just seen.

Jake. Little velvet box. Probably carrying a ring. Jake was so going to ask Miley to marry him! I sat down on the couch next to Oliver, and he looked at me suspiciously.

"You didn't go and speak to Jake."

"I know," I hissed. "But it wasn't the right time to speak to him." I looked around, making sure everybody was still engrossed in the pizza topping conversation, then leaned forward. "He had an engagement ring in his pocket."

"Awesome," Oliver said, not understanding the magnitude of the situation. Well he wouldn't. He hardly knows Miley and Jake. Why would he care that they're getting married?

I sat back. "It's huge. Now I'm really going to be the third wheel."

"No, you're not, Lilly. You've got me," Oliver said, putting his arm around my shoulder.

"I guess you're right. Plus, they totally deserve it. I mean, sure Jake was totally egotistical to begin with, but he loved Miley so much that he got over that," I sighed. "You're totally right. I don't need to worry about those two anymore, because I have you, and that's all that matters, right?"

Oliver laughed slightly. "Right."

"You see what you've got yourself into? I'm a total freak, who worries about trivial things like my best friend getting married to her soul-mate," I looked at him, my eyebrows raised. "You'll also have to put up with my mother, my brother, Miley - who you seriously need to watch out for, and annoying celebrities. You can run now, I don't mind."

Oliver raised his eyebrows back at me. "You seriously think I would run? Lilly, you're gonna have to put up with _Jack._ Who is worse than all of yours put together. Plus," he smiled. "As you said. I have you, and that's the only thing that should matter, right?"

I bit my lip. Okay, so seriously. I feel like melting right now. "Right."

Jake and Mr. Stewart came back in, both wearing identical smiles. I looked up at Jake, raising my eyebrows, and wiggled the ring finger on my left hand at him, hoping he'd pick up on the hint. He did, and made his way over to me.

"How do you know?"

I smirked. "A girl has her ways. Plus, you were acting suspicious, so I sort of saw you show it to Mr. S."

Jake smiled. "You won't tell her, will you?"

"What? Of course not. That would totally ruin the element of surprise. And she'd kill me. For ruining her special moment. But you can't tell her that I knew, either. Because then she'll kill me for knowing and not telling her," I said.

Jake laughed, knowing what I meant. "Okay. Well, I won't tell if you won't."

"You're on," I nodded. "When are you doing it?"

"Tonight. On the beach. Is that a good idea, or no?"

I smiled. "It's totally perfect."

**So I'm going to write as much as I can today. I'm going away in about 6 hours, so I will _try _to have it done for then. Enjoy this one, and there'll be about two more coming your way.**


	27. Kissing On Jack's Porch

Lilly elected to drive home with me, after Miley and Jake got engaged. Something about, talking to them about it being one thing, but having to listen to them constantly talk about it being another. I don't know. All I know is that I was driving Lilly back to LA, and Miley and Jake were in the other car.

"I hate driving home in the dark," Lilly said. It was approaching ten o'clock, but it was getting darker by the minute.

"You're not even driving," I said, glancing over at her.

She rolled her eyes. "Shut up. You knew what I meant. I just don't like it."

"Well don't worry, I'll protect you," I said, trying not to laugh. It wasn't that I thought it was stupid. I didn't at all.

Lilly laughed. "Well I feel ultra safe now."

"You should," I commented. "Do you mind if we make a little detour?"

When I stole a look over at her, she had a confused expression on her face. "Where are we going?"

"Well, I think I should probably go and tell Jack everything," I explained. "He seemed to think that going to Malibu wouldn't be a very good idea."

"You just want to prove him wrong, don't you?" Lilly asked, raising her eyebrows. "Well, I can't say I blame you. I always try to prove Mike wrong. I usually do."

"Was that a 'yes, we can go to Jack's' or a 'no, we can't'?" I asked, looking back at the road.

There was a silence, in which she was obviously pretending to think about her answer. "Fine," she sighed hugely. It was so dramatic that it had to be fake. "I guess we can go and visit your brother."

"Well, he'll be thrilled," I said.

"He should be," Lilly replied.

I nodded. "Yes, he should."

---

I stopped the car outside Jack's house, and looked over at Lilly, who looked up at the house in awe. Her house back in Malibu wasn't as big as this, nor was Miley's house. To be honest, I didn't like that their house was so big. Why did you need such a big house for only three people?

"Your brother must be pretty rich," she commented, still staring at the house.

I shook my head. "Nope. He just knows how to get money out of my parents."

"Ah. Well, that's always a useful skill," Lilly smiled, and then pushed open the door, climbing out of the car. "It looks even bigger from outside."

I raised my eyebrows, and got out of the car too. "No it doesn't."

"Well I think it does," Lilly said, folding her arms, and looking at me; daring me to say that it wasn't again.

"Well I don't," I replied. "Come on. It's almost eleven, and I don't want to wake them up."

"We should've left it until tomorrow," Lilly said. "Plus, then I could look totally amazing, and then your brother would've liked me."

I turned to look at her. "What are you talking about? You look absolutely amazing. Plus, he's already met you, and did like you. And I can guarantee that he looks a state, because he always does. He didn't get the good looks in my family."

Lilly smiled. "And you did?"

"Naturally. Seriously, he likes you," I said, taking her hand, and leading her up the driveway. "How could he not?"

"I don't know, but maybe... maybe he won't," she muttered. "Maybe he thought he liked me, but changed his mind. People can do that, you know."

I knocked on the door before turning to her. "Even if he doesn't like you. What's the problem?"

"I don't know," she shrugged. "I just... want everything to be perfect."

Reaching out, I lifted Lilly's head up toward me. "He will like you. Carter loved you. Rachel liked you. And you are perfect, so you don't have to worry about it. Okay?"

"Okay," Lilly nodded.

Forgetting that I'd just knocked on my brother's door, I leaned forward and kissed Lilly. Just to reassure her. That everything would be okay. Because it would. Plus, Jack definitely liked her. She wrapped her arms around my neck once more, kissing me back.

"Whoa! That is so not what I expected to see when I opened the door!" Jack cried, and I reluctantly pulled away from Lilly. "Couldn't you guys get that out of the way before you knocked on the door?"

"Nice to see you too, Jack," I said, rolling my eyes slightly. "You remember Lilly?"

Jack looked at her. "How could I forget? It's all he's talked about all week. Lilly this, and Lilly that, and blah, blah, blah. But I have nothing against you. You seem like a very nice person."

"Who was at the door Jack?" Rachel walked into the hallway, and her face lit up when she saw both me and Lilly at the door. "I'm guessing it worked? Or are you here to tell us that you decided it would be better if you were just friends? I'm sorry, but that doesn't work for us."

"Well good. Because it doesn't work for us either," I said, mainly to Rachel.

Jack grinned, and stepped aside. "Carter's in bed. Although you knocked on the door pretty hard, so he might have woken up."

Looking at Lilly, who was smiling, I motioned for her to go into the house, and she did. "You guys have such a nice house."

"Thank you," Rachel smiled. "You want a tour?"

Lilly looked at me, as if waiting for me to give her permission to have a tour.

"Go on," I said, looking at her strangely, hoping she'd pick up on the fact that she doesn't have to ask me.

Rachel and Lilly disappeared into one of the many rooms in the house, and I turned to Jack as he closed the door.

"So dude. You got her. Hows it feel?" Jack asked.

I rolled my eyes. "What is this? Dodgy interview?"

"Okay. Fine. No weird questions. But just promise me this. You and her, coming to visit mom and dad this weekend. And when grandma asks who you're with, you introduce her. And you tell her that you are in love with her and that it won't be long before she has her grandchild," Jack said.

"But that wouldn't be completely true..." I said. "We only just got together. I'm not thinking about kids yet."

Jack folded his arms. "Well the old lady doesn't need to know that, does she?"

**Yep, short chapter, I know. I hate it, because it feels rushed, and I hate that. So I'm going to take my time on the last chapter, and hopefully it won't take me longer than 5 hours. **


	28. Eight More Months

**So... I know it's supposed to be Lilly's turn, but I had to give Oliver this part. It just... worked better. **

_One year later_

"Oliver!" My mother cried, as I opened up the front door. "How are you?"

I looked at her weirdly, before answering. "Mom, you talked to me on the phone this morning, and asked the very same question."

"Son, I can ask you how you are whenever I feel like it, and I don't expect you to answer me back," she said sternly, but with a hint of humour in her voice. "No matter how old you get."

"Twenty-two. Not old," I said, hugging my mom.

"It is when you think that I was your age when I had Jack."

I shuddered. "And we all know what a mistake that was, don't we?"

"What was a mistake?"

Speak of the devil. Jack was walking up the drive, Carter running in front of him. Rachel was talking to my dad back at the car.

"You!" I called back, and then looked down at mom, who was looking at me, almost disapprovingly. Not that she could do anything about it. It wasn't like me and Jack were physically hurting each other, was it?

"Nice. You're so charming. I need to tell your fiancé that she needs to keep you under wraps from now on," Jack said, winking as he said the word fiancé.

I rolled my eyes. "You have told her. Numerous times. She thinks it's funny."

"That I keep telling her to shut you up, or that you keep insulting me?" Jack asked, stepping through the doorway.

"Both," I stated, as Carter ran up to me.

"Uncle Ollie! Where's Auntie Lilly?" Carter cried. He'd taken really well to Lilly... as if none of us had seen that coming.

I nodded my head in the direction of the kitchen. "In the kitchen. Making pasta."

"Oliver!" Rachel cried, hearing this last sentence. "You made Lilly cook, while you greeted your guests?"

She made that sound like it was a bad thing. I'm joking. "Miley wouldn't let me in. Said something about how I would just ruin everything, and then pushed me out."

Jack laughed sharply. "They're dropping you hints, bro."

"I may not be allowed in the kitchen, but animals aren't allowed in the house," I snapped back, and the smirk was wiped off of my brother's face. "Anyway, you can all come outside. Jack's allowed out there."

"Oliver," my mom said, in a warning tone.

I turned to look at her, grinning. "Sorry mom. I'll try not to insult Jack... when you can hear me."

The kitchen door opened, and Lilly walked out, rolling her eyes heavily. "Miley is insane. I've left her to it. Because although we are hosting the party, my best friend is neurotic about cooking. She can cook, I shall be the friendly host."

"There's my future sister-in-law!" Jack shouted, hugging Lilly. Over his shoulder, Lilly pulled a face at me, and I bit my tongue to stop myself laughing.

"Here's my future brother-in-law!" Lilly repeated, gently prising herself from Jack's grip. "Really looking forward to that, by the way. Hey Mr. and Mrs. Oken."

Mom smiled at Lilly. "We've told you Lilly. Call us Julie and Frank."

I caught Lilly's eye, and looked away quickly again.

"Yeah, I keep forgetting," Lilly admitted. "Sorry. I'll get used to it soon enough."

People walking up the driveway behind us made me turn around. Lilly's parents were making their way to the house, and Lilly rolled her eyes at me before walking toward them.

I watched as she laughed at something her dad said, and then hugged her mom. By this time, Jack and Rachel had taken Carter outside, and my dad had followed suit, leaving my mother standing in the hallway with me.

"If I haven't already said this before, she's lovely," my mother smiled, following my gaze to where Lilly was still conversing with her parents.

I nodded, not taking my eyes off of Lilly. "You've said it before. But I know she is."

"I'm glad you're happy Oliver," my mom said, before following my dad and Jack out into the garden.

Lilly bounded back into the house, sticking her tongue out at me. Sometimes she acts even more childish than Jack, but that's funny. When Jack does it, it's just infuriating.

"Hiya Oliver," Lilly's mom swept me into a hug. Even though Lilly's parents have told me to call them by their real names (Alice and John) I can't bring myself to do it. So I know how Lilly feels when my parents insist on it.

"Hey Mrs. T," I said, and she laughed.

"Miley used to call me that when she was a teenager. Wow, that was a long time ago," Mrs. Truscott smiled, and I could tell she was remembering that.

Lilly could obviously tell too, because she rolled her eyes. "Yeah, yeah, yeah. Six years or whatever. It's a nice day, let's go outside!"

She hurried her parents out of the back door, and then turned to me, breathing a sigh of relief. "Who's idea was it to invite the parents for dinner?"

"I don't know, but whoever's it was must have been focussing too hard on her hair," I smiled, pulling her close.

"Nu-uh!" she insisted, though welcomed the hug. "She was focussing to hard on the person who was talking to her."

I laughed. "And who was that, I wonder."

"You don't know him," Lilly joked. "But I'm sure you'd get along real well."

"I bet we would," I said, and then turned her around to face the back door. "Now we have to get outside, before Jack does something stupid. In fact, he's probably done something stupid already, but we need to stop him before he does it again."

Lilly laughed, and let me steer her toward the door. "Aww, brotherly love. It's so awesome."

"Where's Mike today?" I asked, and she stopped laughing.

"Point taken. But that isn't brotherly love. That's brother-and-sisterly hating," Lilly said, pulling open the back door, which had closed due to the wind. "There's a huge difference."

I raised my eyebrows, even though her back was to me. "I can tell."

"Good," Lilly said, and stepped out into the garden.

"Lilly!" A cry from the kitchen echoed through the house and garden, and Lilly laughed.

"Miley needs me. You'll have to stop your brother doing something stupid on your own." With a swift kiss on my cheek, she ran into the house, and left me standing in the garden on my own.

"Oliver!" Jack called me over. Rolling my eyes, and telling myself that if he said something ridiculous I'd just walk away, I walked over to him. He was sat on the grass with Carter.

I sat down opposite him, ready to make a quick exit if he said something amazingly stupid. "What?"

"You guys looked happy," he stated, as if I needed him to tell me this.

"We are," I said, waiting for the punchline.

He smiled down at Carter, and then looked back up at me. "Guess what. Grandma called."

"Joy. And she said what now?" I asked. Here it came. Punch-line.

"Asked once more when her latestgrandchild was coming. She seemed to remember Carter, which was very unexpected," Jack said, the smirk visible on his face.

I raised my eyebrows at him. "And you told her what?"

"That I didn't know. That she'd have to ask you that one," Jack said. "Anything you have to tell me Oliver?"

"What gave you that idea?" I asked.

Jack shrugged. "There had to be some reason you guys asked us here today. Nobody invites both sets of parents over for fun. And there was something in the way she looked at you..."

"Oliver!" A voice cried from the kitchen, and I recognised it as Lilly's.

I got up, ready to go and see what they wanted me for.

"Oliver, what am I supposed to tell grandma next time she calls?" Jack asked, his eyebrows raised.

I turned away from him, and thought about what to say. What to say, what to say... "Tell her..."

I heard Jack hold his breath. Well, I always said he was weird.

"Tell her she'll only have to wait eight more months," I said, and then without waiting for Jack's response, walked inside and into the house.

**So that's it. I know I left it at a sort of weird place, but I just felt that it ended it perfectly. You guys might not agree, in which case you have the right to demand a sequel. I already have one vote for a sequel, and so if I get a load more, then I'll definitely try writing one. Otherwise, I hope you enjoyed this story, and I sure as hell enjoyed writing it. :)**

**Anyway. Going to pack for my holiday now. Which is in like, 2 hours. I'm so un-organised.**


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